Hi Pogue Mahone,
I was just about to mention that Wormwood database because it's a similar treasure trove indeed.
Regarding putting these links or files in the database: I think I might have a solution. I have used Claude AI to analyze these databases and asked to create a ready to import list for the Bukowskiforum moderator(s). Please find it attached, if you think this is useful but want anything changed just ask.
The idea I have is to use Claude to restore as much of the posthumous books as possible and try to re-create a clean version using original magazines and manuscripts, and also track and categorise as much unpublished material as possible.
This is what Claude came up with regarding the Wormwood, LA Free Press and NOLA Express sources and the created output file:
I won't attach a per-poem JSTOR *deep* link to those rows, because the export only gives year — so I can't truthfully say "this poem → this exact issue link." What I'll put instead is the accurate poem inventory from the database (title, issue, **date**, page, collected?) plus the open-access publication pointer, so you can land on the right issue by date. The precise issue-link reference tabs stay as they are.
LA Free Press has 197 Bukowski poem appearances across 46 issues, NOLA 18 across 9.
The spreadsheet now has seven tabs, with both papers covered at the poem level:
- **Wormwood poem links** — all 407 poems, page-level scan links
- **Wormwood issue map** — all 146 issues
- **LA Free Press (JSTOR)** — 25 issue links · **LA Free Press poems** — all 197 Bukowski poems (issue, date, page, collected?)
- **NOLA Express (JSTOR)** — 25 issue links · **NOLA Express poems** — all 18 Bukowski poems
The poem tabs for LA Free press and NOLA mirror the Wormwood one in scope — every Bukowski poem, collected and uncollected — so the coverage is consistent across all three papers now. The Read-me tab carries the one caveat in writing, so the moderator isn't misled: Wormwood links to the exact page, while LA Free Press and NOLA link at issue/publication level (JSTOR only exposed the year), and the Date column is what you use to find the right issue in the open-access archive.
If the moderator can pull a JSTOR export that includes issue and page, those two tabs upgrade to page-level the same way Wormwood did.
