Bukowski style imitation? Rip-off? Help! (1 Viewer)

nervas

more crickets than friends
Ok I'm hoping to get some feedback on a question that rattles my brain often. Whenever and no matter how good or bad I think it is....Whenever I see a poem written in the Bukowski style...

what i
mean,
is when a poem is
written in
some sense or
fashion similiar
to what I'm typing
right
now...


is written, I just can't help but think MAN, it's just a Bukowski rip off. I may be totally ignorant and naive to think this. I've been reading Bukowski for about 16 years and there is no question he's my favorite author. I just hate discounting EVERYTHING I read like the above thinking the person figured..."Well if that guy Bukowski did it this way, ANYONE CAN DO IT." I read in other forums where users have talked about how that statement is NOT TRUE, and I totally agree. I just wonder how many others, were writing this way prior to Bukowski?

I'd really like to read and appreciate other authors who write in a similar fashion, but honestly after 16 years cannot get over the fact that it seems to much of a rip-off?

I guess I do like a few Green Day songs even after absolutely idolizing the Ramones for the past 25 years, so maybe there's hope?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
 
To discount work based on how it looks doesn't make much since...doesn't matter if it was written before or after Buk.

The measure of the work should be what it says.
 
short line breaks happened before Bukowski. ignore the line breaks when you read other poets for now. just read the words. when you find poems or poets that you like, then pay attention to the line breaks to get a feel for the rhythm the poet is trying to create.

you'll find a lot of Bukowski imitators, but you'll also find some good work
you've been passing over
because the structure
reminded you
of Buk.

like this.
 
Some of the typographic play and ingenuity in Bukowski I think he got from e.e. cummings. He seems to me like an abstract expressionist action painter sometimes flinging the words seemingly randomly yet artfully on the page/canvas.
 
I have found Bukowski's writing style to be very hard to NOT imitate. I have to force myself sometimes not to sound like him. That's just because I really admire his writing, his use of the word. It just looks good on paper. He's very addictive.

However, one of my friends who fancies himself a writer goes out of his way to sound like Buk. Style, subject matter, etc. . . It's safe to say here; his writing is awful. It's embarrassing. I never compliment it either. I figure nothing said should be enough of a hint. Perhaps I should just tell him and gamble losing a friend?
 
Bukowski inspires lots to TRY and write. His simple style is not, in reality, that simple.

Nothing is new.... try and use his style then find your own.
 
You're right. It's not simple, and I think that's a common misconception people get when they first read Bukowski; thinking his writing is simple. Those little lines are tight. Less is more. I dated an English major for a while who loved D.H. - but she did nothing but complain about Bukowski whenever I would ask her to read something. She just didn't get it. I finally had to break up with her.
 
Thanks everyone for your feedback. I certainly was very guilty, in the early 90's, of thinking, hell this guy Bukowski is awesome...BUT I CAN DO THAT! Of course after nearly two decades of reading him, I CANNOT DO THAT! As others of you said, I think it's a common reoccurring misconception about the ease of the writing. I guess as hoochmonkey and mjp said, you're looking for a swing, a rythm and sometimes it's there and sometimes it's not.
 

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