Manuscripts published poem (1 Viewer)

[PhillyDave]

I'm not too sure where to post this question. I was looking through the manuscripts section and came upon the poem the police helicopter. Here's the thing. It's listed as written in 1973 but according to Buk's signature and date at the bottom of said poem it says 10-3-63. Was it a clerical error on Buk's part? I guess it was determined he wrote in in '73 because of his address at the top of the poem? Just wondering.

 

[Danny Mac]

There are 90 views and not a single reply? I'm going to reply. I have no idea. Check with Hank Solo. He is part Cyborg. He'll know.

 

[Purple Stickpin]

I would think that mjp made an executive decision (and a logical one) when adding this to the database. According to the timeline, Buk didn't live at 151 S. Oxford in 1963, but he did live there in 1973. So, consider the odds: which is he more likely to have gotten wrong, his address or the date?

More importantly, if you dig into the manuscripts, you'll find that Buk didn't regularly sign them until about 1970-71, assuming our examples from the 1960s are representative of the population as a whole.

 

[Danny Mac]

There you have it Philly Dave. Problem solved!

 

[mjp]

I thought we'd talked about that one before and someone would post a link, but I see now that we haven't.

I'm pretty sure that we did talk about another manuscript that seemed to be dated 10 years off, so this wouldn't be the first time Bukowski got the decade wrong.

 

[Hosh]

Could he simply be dating (in the 70s) a bunch of previously written, undated manuscripts (because he didn't know that would ever matter until suddenly it seemed like it did)?

 

[mjp]

He didn't even keep copies of most manuscripts in the 60s, so that seems unlikely.