oh, sure. next to the poem, when I originally read it, I jotted this down: "early example where B. criticizes contemporary poetry." that was my take a few years ago, which is yours today!
but B did use latin words and unusual terms here and there. sometimes on purpose, sometimes because he probably felt like using those words. he hadn't simplified his style back then, at least not as much as he would later on.
One of the things I'll elaborate on in the diss. will be -and you'll pardon me the wording here- Bukowski's stylistically conscious approach to poetry.
Let the Man speak:
"The simple word usually gets it better, it seems to carve it deeper into the paper and there is the manner of saying too, the easy roll of words as you get at something or try to get at something. Still, there are odd times when I like to throw in an almost awkward word that somehow becomes not awkward when it gets worked into the sentence. It's rather like a tightener, it makes the sentence jump into the air for a moment. But you must be careful not to overdo it." Reach for the Sun, 237. [Bold type mine]
He used to do this a lot, especially in the early days. There are countless examples, sometimes even in the titles, like the Cacoethes Scribendi short-story, etc.
