Joan Jobe Smith, Appreciation Thread (1 Viewer)

Reviving this thread about this amazing lady outlaw poet ? just got myself a copy

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I rarely disagree with Rekrab, but Bukowski makes fun of Joan's writing (whether she knew it or not) via a 1975 quote that she herself used on the back of the book:

"Joan Jobe Smith's writings are contained and clean and emotional and touched with her knowledge and have the reality of force properly put down on paper..."

If you read even one page of the book, it's bound to have a sentence with three or more ands.

And we know Bukowski never wrote sentences like the one above. Even though he never lived to read the book, he's obviously being facetious about her writing in 1975.
 
Pogue, you may be on to something there. I never noticed that about Bukowski's blurb, that it's a run-on sentence. He's probably mocking her a bit there. He had a complicated relationship with her. And yes, the book, and all of her writings, are loaded with run-on sentences. Despite that, I still highly recommend it, and any of her books. They're brilliant, insightful, loaded with wisdom and merriment. She's an incredible talent.
 
With Joan, I get the feeling that her writing is mostly unfiltered. So many ideas coming to mind all the time, and she lets them in. That might put off some readers. It works for me. On the other hand, there are subjects she doesn't get into. She always knows far more than she tells. And her memory is crazy good.
 
OK, I gave poor Joan the stick. Here's the carrot. As the first post in this thread mentioned, Joan was the publisher of Pearl and she included Bukowski in seven issues between 1978 and 1993 (see database). When Bukowski died, she put out a first edition of a Bukowski anthology titled, "Das ist Alles". (I think many people skip right by it on eBay because it's a German translation of a Bukowski book).

Anyway, there were 200 hand-numbered copies. It includes a bunch of Bukowski drawings and 10 poems that appeared in Pearl. One drawing is Bukowski’s famous “Men’s Lib Poster” that shows Bukowski looking up the skirt of a giant woman. Pearl previously published the drawing separately in a large format on heavy stock.

It's a really nicely produced chapbook.

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Pogue: to clarify, the title "Das ist Alles" is in German, but the book's contents are in English, right? I thought I had a copy of it, but I was thinking of Joan's book Charles Bukowski. Epic Glottis: His Art & His Women (& me) from 2012.
 
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. . . she put out a first edition of a Bukowski anthology titled, "Das ist Alles". (I think many people skip right by it on eBay because it's a German translation of a Bukowski book).
just for the sake of smartassery:

To my knowledge, there is no German book by Bukowski titled "Das ist Alles" [Engl.: "That's all"], but these were the very words with which he ended his reading in Germany in 1978 [only followed by "Dankeschön" = "Thank you kindly"].
One can get it on the recording of said reading.

But then, there IS a German book with a similar title (although not written by Bukowski either):
"Das war's" [Engl.: "That's it"]

it contains what is said to be his last interview [Aug 16, 1993], (plus some background), by a German journalist, Gundolf S. Freyermuth, and packed with photographs by Michael Montfort (and from his archives).

There's an English edition (presenting the interview-parts in the Original), but minus the photographs.

Excerpts of this interview can be found in David S. Calonne's collection of Buk-interviews: "Sunlight here I am".

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Left out the words "they think".

Ha, that'll teach me to think, before attempting to seemingly "correct" anything.

I now get, that your intention's been to say:

people skip right by it on eBay because *they think* it's a German translation of a Bukowski book

while My own interpretation was, that you'd belief, there actually IS a German book by that name, like:

people skip right by it on eBay because *the title* is a German "translation" of a Bukowski book

I guess, I simply was overexcited to be back and going on contributing.
Or maybe I was drunk.
Or both.
 
It's my fault. Unfortunately I'm sober for a minute. Over the summer I got pancreatitis from my daily consumption of vodka on ice. So I had to have surgery on Monday and I was already on pain pills when I posted.

So don't apologize for anything. Zobraks clearly stated that we need to review what we write on here and I failed him.

This forum would be a great study in Social Media and how we've gradually changed how we communicate with one another over the years.

That said, Fuck You, I hate you all!
 
I find that I often need to go back and revise my posts, once I think them though. In the old days, you only had so much time to do that, and then it was locked, but now it seems you can come back the next day or whatever and still change things. Works for me.
 
Not to get all metaphysical on you, but what that tells me is that you don't really own your past. You can't change a damned thing about it, ever. And you have limited say about your future. All you can control is the present. Be your best self now. End of guru lecture.
 
[...] that you don't really own your past. [...] All you can control is the present. [...]
o, I definitely do own my past (if nothing else). Just as It owns me. We've been a married couple since an age when people think you're too young to even Have something like a "past".

What I seldom had (and surely can't "control") is a present.
[ I did at times; so I know what it is and how it feels. That's what qualifies me to detect that fact. ]


NEXT thing I'll post in this thread will be about Joan Jobe Smith, promise.

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