Help with the original poem? (1 Viewer)

Hello everyone!

I hope that someone can help me with this question. I read a collection of Bukowski's poems, translated into my language (Slovenian) and the title of the collection is a verse from a poem that's entitled something akin to "It's a Long Way (Road?) to St. Louis".

It says something along the lines of

"Lawrens found Taos,
Jeffers Big Sur,
I found angels at the bottom of my glass"

"There are angels at the bottom of my glass" or something like that (the last two verses of this poem) is used as the title of the collection--I found this title fascinating, so I am trying to locate the original poem but can't seem to find it anywhere.

Could someone please direct me to the original poem in English? I'd be eternally grateful. Thank you very much in advance!
 
here is where Hank Solo jumps in and amazes us all...

Standby, Mr or Ms. sunflowersutra.

While you are here, why not go to the new blood and tell us about yourself.

Bill
 
Hmm. Thanks Bill. But I can't say I know this one. (Yeah, I know what you're thinking - :eek: gasp!)

I would guess that the collection "Pesmi in Angeli so na dnu mojega kozarca" is probably not a straight translation of an existing US collection either. I'd guess that the poem is a later one, post 1980. Hope someone else has a better idea.
 
For what it's worth, the "angels at the bottom of my glass" line didn't ring a bell with me either.
 
...It says something along the lines of

"Lawrens found Taos,
Jeffers Big Sur,
I found angels at the bottom of my glass"

"There are angels at the bottom of my glass"...

I have a vague recollection of this, as it strikes me that Buk would never write something to the effect of "There are angels at the bottom of my glass" unless he was (sarcastically) commenting on something else.

My recollection, therefore must come from the late 80s/early 90s when I was in a Kerouac phase (see: Desolation Angels) and had recently found the works of Buk. At that time, I was unfamilar with his rather ascerbic opinion of writers who were successful for reasons he wouldn't accept, or rather, took exception to.

Too lazy to sort through every book of poems I may have had at this time; maybe this will spark some memory for someone else.
 
Thank you very much for all your help, everyone! I really appreciate it.

No, you are right, Hank Solo, it's not a direct translation of a title. I checked, and basically this translated collection is a selection of poems the translators were particularly fond of, so there are selected poems in it from:

It Catches My Heart In Its Hands (1960)
Crucifix in a Deathhand (1965)
At Terror Street and Agony Way (1968)
Poems Written Before Jumping Out of an 8 Story Window (1986)
Mocking Bird Wish Me Luck (1972)
Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame: Selected Poems 1955-1973 (1974)
Love Is a Dog From Hell: Poems 1974-1977 (1977)
Dangling in a Tournefortia (1982)
Septuagenerian Stew: Stories & Poems (1990)

So it could basically be a poem written at any time. This particular translator is a fan of Bukowski and the Beats, so when he translates poems, he usually takes a verse or two from a poem he likes and uses it as a title. For example, for Frank O'Hara he used "My Heart Is in My Pocket". I think it's nice but it makes it somewhat hard to find the originals.

I would have checked the original poems but alas, they don't sell any where I'm from, at least not in any places I know, although I'll definitely have to look into it.

But this particular poem starts with something like the line:

"When I'm taking a walk I can inhale water
and sulphate migraine"

"it's not raining
and I don't have to go
anywhere
to find Taos,
nowhere for
Big Sur"

"and in my lavabo
there's
a whale"

I'm sorry for the various snippets, but those are the lines I can translate at the top of my head and that sound at least somewhat similar to what the original would be like.

Again, thank you very much for all your help, everyone! I'm sorry to be bothering you with this.
 
sunflowersutra no problem. I know it may simply be a matter of translation, but that line sounds familiar to me too. I seem to remember a line about seeing Los Angeles ( those angels ) through the bottom of a glass, but I have a strong imagination sometimes. Maybe a bit of the Christams spirit.
 

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