Favorite Posthumous Collection? (1 Viewer)

[Black Coffee]

It's almost universally accepted that the posthumous poetry collections are weaker. Some of my favorite of Buk's poems come from posthumous collections(So You Want To Be A Writer, Roll The Dice, a bunch of others...), but as collections I'll agree that the ones that came out while he was alive are simply better.

With that said, what are your favorites of the posthumous books?

I haven't read Portions... yet, but as far as poetry is concerned, I think I might have to go with The Pleasures Of The Damned. "the bluebird" and "Oh, Yes" and "Dinosauria, We" are some of my all-time favorites of his so having them together in the same collection is nice.

 

[hank solo]

"The Pleasures Of The Damned" really is outstanding due to its scope. Almost every poem was previously collected though.

"What matters most is how well you walk through the fire" is a strong collection in my opinion.

 

[Bukfan]

I agree! "Open All Night", wasn't bad either, but I wasn't too happy with "Night Torn Mad..", and "Come On In" was a disappointment..

 

[mjp]

It's almost universally accepted that the posthumous poetry collections are weaker.

Is it? It may be true, but it's one of those things people state as fact when I don't know if everyone would agree. A lot of people tend to assume they are all made up of later poems, but that is not always the case.

Anyway, as a suggestion, I would say that anyone who thinks the posthumous collections are weak should read The People Look Like Flowers At Last.

 

[cirerita]

Most posthumous collections rely too much on material from the 70s, which was B's weakest poetry period in my opinion. What Matters... is a powerful statement, though.

 

[CarversDog]

"Portions From a Wine-Stained Notebook" is like a sampler of Whitman's chocolates, offering a fine representation of every style Bukowski employed: political and personal essays, book reviews, fiction, musings on classical music and the running of the ponies, life in underground L.A., not much in the poetry department, though, but it's not as if the lit world is lacking for Buk poetry collections. I would easily point any newbie to Bukowski to "Portions" before recommending another title because the collection easily dispels much of the Bukowski mythology and explains, through the man's own words, how the mythology was born.

 

[mjp]

...it's not as if the lit world is lacking for Buk poetry collections.

Ah, but they haven't quite come to an end just yet. Expect at least one more (uncharacteristically thin) volume from Ecco.

 

[cirerita]

Poems from the Attic

 

[marina del rey]

What Matters Most... is one of my favorites - not just from the posthumous collections, but a favorite out of all of his works. But I'm probably in the minority on that one.

 

[CarversDog]

I heard from a reliable source that City Lights is entertaining another book as well. I'm not certain if it's material that Calonne set aside when he was archiving "Portions" but I imagine it is.

 

[LickTheStar]

I've still a few to pick up, but so far The People Look Like Flowers At Last is my favorite at the moment (though I'll say that I honestly don't own any of the BSP ones yet, just the Ecco).

 

[jordan]

i like what matters most or open all night the best. open all night has some poems written about jane's death that knock me to the ground every time i read them.

to completely shift gears, what do you guys think was his weakest prehumous collection? i started reading play the piano drunk and was surprised at how much i didn't like it. of course there are some great poems in there, but i thought there was a lot of filler. weird that it's such a small collection (comparatively), since my favorites - like dangling or last night of the earth - are much longer, and much better poem-for-poem. i'm sure i'm in the minority here, but i read it for the first time in the past few months, and i hadn't posted about it yet [/thread hijacking].

 

[chronic]

what do you guys think was his weakest prehumous collection?

I don't mean to nitpick, but I don't think "prehumous" is a real word. Probably should be though, as in "chickpeas in their prehumous state."

 

[james]

isn't prehumous the funny bone? :rolleyes:

 

[mjp]

i started reading play the piano drunk and was surprised at how much i didn't like it. of course there are some great poems in there, but i thought there was a lot of filler.

This is kind of interesting. It took Bukowski a long time to work up to producing enough poems for a typically thick poetry collection. If you make his quitting the post office the starting point of his full time writing career, it looks like he worked mainly on prose for a few years. I assume because the poetry didn't pay immediately where a lot of the prose did. The first big poetry collection that was mainly current work was Love Is a Dog From Hell, and that came out five years after he quit the post office.

But yeah, Play The Piano always seemed like scraps, coming as it did between Love Is a Dog From Hell and Dangling in the Tournefortia.

 

[jordan]

I don't mean to nitpick, but I don't think "prehumous" is a real word. Probably should be though, as in "chickpeas in their prehumous state."

it's definitely not a real word. i like it, because it kind of sounded funny. i was going to say "humous," but then thought that someone might misread it as "humorous" and answer the question differently. it's amazing how much thought i put into this non-word, thinking back on it now.

 

[Gerard K H Love]

Prehumous comes up on Google, and I knew what you meant anyway.

Pleasures of the Damned is my favorite.

 

[Purple Stickpin]

But yeah, Play The Piano always seemed like scraps, coming as it did between Love Is a Dog From Hell and Dangling in the Tournefortia.

And the Fire Station poems figure prominently in this collection, some nine years after the fact. I've always hated the cover art for Play the pieano..., but the poems are good to me. Not every collection can shine.

it's amazing how much thought i put into this non-word, thinking back on it now.

Non-words are completely acceptable in poetry, in my mind. Or words used in the wrong part of speech. For example, I once used the term "A surrealist peach" in a poem. One might think that the word should be "surrealistic," but "surrealist" worked better. It imparts the image that the peach was a cogent being capable of surreal thoughts or actions, but actually, it just flowed better with "surrealist." I always like to impart imagery unintentionally.

Keeps those fuckers guessing.

 

[Bukfan]

My favorite posthumous collection is, "What Matters Most..". I think it's the strongest posthumous collection.
(not counting "Pleasures..")

 

[hoochmonkey9]

should we even count Pleasures? isn't that cheating a bit? like saying a greatest hits cd is a new release, even though we already can sing along to every song.

I second (or third or fourth or fifth) the votes for What Matters Most...

yes, Play the Piano seems lacking because it comes between 2 of his strongest collections.

and I think prehumous is a good word.

well, I think I've covered everything. lock the thread! we're done! ;)

 

[hank solo]

lock the thread! we're done! ;)

just ask a mod to do it. then again, I hear they're an uncooperative bunch.

 

[Bukfan]

should we even count Pleasures? isn't that cheating a bit? like saying a greatest hits cd is a new release, even though we already can sing along to every song.

You're absolutely right! Pleasures should'nt be counted, for the reasons you just mentioned. Otherwise, most of us would choose Pleasures and then there would be no discussion.

Which Rolling Stones album do you prefer? Their Greatest Hits album, of course! :p

 

[Ponder]

The People look like Flowers at last & Beggars banquet.
What's next?

 

[mjp]

I guess it's time to finally do that book ranking (voting) page. That should answer these questions. But how to break up the periods? Ah, maybe we should vote on it. ;)

 

[Gerard K H Love]

Okay, but wait until I read everything.

 

[roni]

Is it? ...

mjp: sure not EVERYONE might agree here, but I know a lot of people who claim so and don't hear anyone yet, who wouldn't agree. (to the statement in general that is - single poems is not the matter.)

carver: 'Portions' is a great book, but I wonder if a true newbie will get a lot of pleasure + understanding Buk from it. I find it far more interesting AFTER one became a little familiar with the bio and the different times theses texts were written in.

posthumous - I don't know all of them, and those I know not all very well. But I liked 'Open All Night' better than 'What matters most'.

prehumous (or what you call it) - Jordan: I too found 'Piano' very weak, when I first read it in the early 90s. Now I've reread it in parts and must say, (maybe because it's so thin) there seem to be not as much 'fillers' in it as - say - in 'Love is a Dog', which is, of course a phantastic collection, but I feel, there's a lot of weak stuff in it only to make it bigger.

'War' isn't among my favorites either. (though it has some very strong poems, but the fillers...) neither is 'Stew'.

hooch: right, 'Pleasures doesn't count'.

'Exile', yes. But what about 'Sticky fingers' (no joke this time)?