On Drinking (1 Viewer)

Early, discarded cover:

OnDrinkingHC_1-16_1.jpg
 
Wish I could say it was the alka-seltzers, at least that would have been funny. But no, it was the N word. I unsuccessfully argued that the N word has appeared in previous Bukowski collections. It doesn't matter, apparently. No more N words, I'm told. All right.

skiroomalum, pm with your full name and postal address. Will send you the book soon.
 
Bukowski once said, "What the drunk really needs is a good stiff drink!" In other words what the alcoholic should imbibe is an drink he can really feel through and through for it's pain relief not the drink he gets addicted to. Of course which of us gets the choice! Pain is momentary. Bottoms up!
 
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Sources

"ants crawl my drunken arms." Literary Artpress 2.2, Spring 1961; collected in The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills, 1969.

"What bothers me is when ..." Excerpt from a March 25, 1961, letter to Jon and Louise Webb; collected in On Writing, 2015.

"Born Andernach, Germany..." Excerpt from a January 14, 1963, letter to William Corrington; collected in Screams from the Balcony, 1993.

"I just got to thinking..." Excerpt from an October 1963 letter to William Corrington; previously unpublished.

"I am getting a little drunk..." Excerpt from a March 1, 1964, letter to Jon and Louise Webb; collected in Screams from the Balcony, 1993.

"beerbottle." The Wormwood Review 14, August 1964; collected in Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame, 1974.

"brewed and filled by." (c. 1964); collected in At Terror Street and Agony Way, 1968.

"Confessions of a Man Insane Enough to Live with Beasts [#4]." (Early 1965); collected in South of No North, 1973.

"I wrote Henry Miller the other day..." Excerpt from an August 24,1965, letter to Douglas Blazek; collected in Screams from the Balcony, 1993.

"I keep drinking beer and scotch..." Excerpt from a 1965 letter to William Wantling; collected in Screams from the Balcony, 1993.

"Buffalo Bill." The Wormwood Review 24, March 1966; collected in The Roominghouse Madrigals, 1988.

"Notes of a Dirty Old Man." Open City 23, October 4,1967; collected in Notes of a Dirty Old Man, 1969.

"The Great Zen Wedding." (September 1969); collected in Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, and General Tales of Ordinary Madness, 1972.

"In bed I had something..." (February 1970); excerpt from Post Office, 1971.

"short non-moon shots to nowhere [#16]." Jeopardy 6, March 1970; collected as "millionaires" in Mockingbird Wish Me Luck, 1972.

"nobody understands an alcoholic ..." Excerpt from a December 1,1970, letter to Lafayette Young; collected in Living on Luck, 1995.

"drinking's good for a guy your age ..." Excerpt from a March 1,1971, letter to Steve Richmond; previously unpublished.

"I'm on the wagon ..." Excerpt from a March 22,1971, letter to John Bennett; previously unpublished.

"on the wagon." March 31,1971, manuscript; previously uncollected.

"drinking." April 6,1971, manuscript; previously uncollected.

"the angels of Sunday." Mano-Mano 2, July 1971; previously uncollected.

"Charles Bukowski Answers 10 Easy Questions," Throb 2, Summer-Fall 1971.

"drunk ol' Bukowski drunk." 1971 manuscript; collected in Mockingbird Wish Me Luck, 1972.

"Notes on the Life of an Aged Poet," January 24,1972, manuscript; collected in Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook, 2009.

"my landlady and my landlord." Early 1972 manuscript; collected in Mockingbird Wish Me Luck, 1972.

"The Blinds." 1972 manuscript; later reworked and incorporated into Factotum, 1975.

"Notes of a Dirty Old Man." Los Angeles Free Press 428, October 2,1972; collected as "This Is What Killed Dylan Thomas" in South of No North.

"another poem about a drunk and then I'll let you go." Los Angeles Free Press 456, April 13,1973; collected in The People Look Like Flowers at Last, 2007. A longer version of this poem, titled "wax job," was previously collected in Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame, 1974.

"in the name of love and art." Second Coming 2.1/2, Summer 1973; previously uncollected.

"the drunk tank judge." June 14,1973, manuscript; collected in Play the Piano Like a Percussion Instrument Until the Fingers Begin to Bleed a Bit, 1979.

"some people never go crazy." Two Charlies 3,1973; collected as "some people" in Burning in Water Drowning in Flame, 1974.

"Notes of a Dirty Old Man." Los Angeles Free Press 465, June 15,1973; collected in More Notes of a Dirty Old Man, 2011.

"Confessions of a Badass Poet," Berkeley Barb 454, April 26, 1974.

"some picnic." Wormwood Review 55,1974; collected in. Love Is a Dog from Hell, 1977. Also appeared in Play the Piano Drunk in 1979.

"18,000 to one." November 25,1974 manuscript (second draft); collected as "38,000 to one" in What Matters Most Is How Well You Walk Through the Fire, 1999.

"Paying for Horses: An Interview with Charles Bukowski," London Magazine 14.5, December 1974/January 1975.

"I awakened much later..." Excerpts from Factotum, 1975. The first excerpt is based on a June 30,1972, "Notes of a Dirty Old Man" column published in the Los Angeles Free Press.

"ah, shit." January 25,1976, manuscript; collected as "ah ..." in Love Is a Dog from Hell, 1977.

"who in the hell is Tom Jones?" June 4,1975, manuscript; collected in Love Is a Dog from Hell, 1977.

"beer." June 5,1976, manuscript; collected in Love Is a Dog from Hell, 1977.

"shit time." Love Is a Dog from Hell, 1977.

"Buk: The Pock-Marked Poetry of Charles Bukowski. Notes of a Dirty Old Mankind," Rolling Stone 215, June 17,1976.

"Charles Bukowski. Dialog with a Dirty Old Man," Hustler 3.6, December 1976.

"smashed." November 2,1977, manuscript; previously uncollected.

"the image." November 17,1977, manuscript (second draft); collected in What Matters Most Is How Well You Walk Through the Fire, 1999.

"I suppose I drink too much white wine ..." Excerpt from a March 5,1978, letter to Uncle Heinrich; previously unpublished.

"One afternoon I was coming from the liquor store ..." Excerpts from Women, 1978.

"fat head poem." June 29,1978, manuscript; collected in Shakespeare Never Did This, 1995.

"On Friday night I was to appear..." Excerpts from Shakespeare Never Did This, 1995.

"the drunk with the little legs." September 26,1979, manuscript; collected as "Toulouse" in Open All Night.

"Hemingway." June 28, 1979, manuscript (first draft); previously uncollected. A very similar poem, titled "Hemingway, drunk before noon," written in 1985, was collected as "drunk before noon" in The Night Torn Mad With Footsteps, 2001.

"Mozart wrote his first opera before the age of fourteen." Harbor Review, Spring 1980; collected as "night sweats" in Open All Night.

"on the hustle." March 10,1980, manuscript; collected in Dangling in Tournefortia, 1981.

"night school." The Wormwood Review 81/82,1981; collected in Dangling in Tournefortia, 1981.

"fooling Marie." January 17,1982, manuscripts; collected as "fooling Marie (the poem)" in Come On In, 2006.

"I did a lot of time in bars ..." Excerpt from a March 1,1982, letter to Jack Stevenson; previously unpublished.

"Let an old man give you some advice ..." Excerpt from a May 9,1982, letter to Gerald Locklin; collected in Reach for the Sun, 1999.

"One day, just like in grammar school..." Excerpts from Ham on Rye, 1982.

"barred from the Polo Lounge." May 1983 manuscript; previously uncollected.

"trying to dry out." June 22,1983, manuscript (second draft); collected in The Continual Condition, 2009.

"speaking of drinking..." August 20,1983, manuscript; previously uncollected.

Tough Company, by Tom Russell, February 2008. These interview excerpts were first published in January 1984 in the Norwegian magazine Puls.

"40 years ago in that hotel room." February 1984 manuscript; collected in The Night Torn Mad With Footsteps, 2001.

"my vanishing act." October 1984 manuscript; collected in You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense, 1986.

"the master plan." November 1984 manuscript; collected in You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense, 1986.

"this." December 1984 manuscript; collected in You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense, 1986.

The Charles Bukowski Tapes, directed by Barbet Schroeder, January 1985.

"On quitting your job at 50 ..." Excerpt from a February 22, 1985, letter to A. D. Winans; collected in On Writing.

"dark night poems [#6 and #11]." November 1985 manuscript; previously uncollected.

"An Evening at Buk's Place." This interview, conducted on February 17,1986, was later collected in Jean-Francois Duval's Bukowski and the Beats. A Commentary on the Beat Generation, 2002.

"immortal wino." October 16,1986, manuscript; collected in Septuagenarian Stew, 1990.

"cleansing the ranks." Water Row Review 1,1987; collected in Septuagenarian Stew, 1990.

"Gin-Soaked Boy," Film Comment 23A, July/August 1987.

"240 pounds." 1988 manuscript; previously uncollected.

"The screenplay began to move ..." Excerpts from Hollywood, 1989.

"2 Henry Miller paintings and etc." 1989 manuscript; previously uncollected.

"the gigantic thirst." Late 1989 manuscript; collected in The People Look Like Flowers at Last, 2007.

"Charles Bukowski," Arete 2.1, July-August 1989.

"I fell off the wagon twice ..." Excerpt from a November 8, 1989, letter to Carl Weissner; previously unpublished.

"Q&A," Arete 2.6, Summer 1990.

"hangovers." (Early 1991); The Last Night of the Earth Poems, 1992.

"the replacements." c. 1991 manuscript; collected in The Last Night of the Earth Poems, 1992.

"Interview with Charles Bukowski," Lizard's Eyelid, c. 1992.

"and it didn't even break." June 11,1992, manuscript; previously uncollected.

"tonight." June 1992 manuscript; collected as "a fine madness" in The Continual Condition, 2009. Also appeared (as "tonight") in The Flash of Lightning in 2004.

"Hello John: Just two poems tonight..." October 20,1992, letter to John Martin; previously unpublished.

"11/6/92 12:08 AM." Spillway. New Directions in Poetry 5, 1996; collected in The Captain Is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship, 1998.

"wine pulse." February 29,1984, manuscript; collected in The Night Torn Mad With Footsteps, 2001.
 
That's verbatim (scanned) from the book. As I add the poems and stories to the database I'll compare and add notes to the above list in red.

I probably won't be adding the excerpts from the novels to the database.
 
I'm assuming that the poems sourced from the posthumous collections have been restored to their original form? Or only those with available manuscripts?
PS, no poem has been sourced from the posthumous collections. I used either the original mss or the mag appearance, never the posthumous version.
Although some poems have been collected twice or even three times, I only list the first book appearance.
 
That NYT review wasn't that bad. The guy even said Bukowski was probably wise. What else can you expect from someone who says that 2019 readers would roll their eyes after reading "Who in the Hell is Tom Jones?" Good thing he didn't review Storm for the Living and the Dead. He would have had a heart attack after reading "tough luck".
 
MJP totally called these bad reviews when he said it wasn't a great idea to do these books by theme. The On Drinking theme just puts Buk back on the skid row poet illegitimate track. He's just a drunk who is uneduacated, abusive, sexist, beats his women, etc. No matter how well you are bringing unedited poems back to his fans, the title/theme of this book was a really, really bad idea. The reputation you wanted to revive has now took 10 steps backward. I'm sure you meant well, but you've added a new layer of distane for every critic who wanted to shoot him down as a drunk.

BTW, why did you start with "On Cats"? Were you thinking you could create a new Bukowski following made up of old women, lesbians, and subnormal shut-in cat lovers? I know Buk loved cats for their primitive behavior (much like humans), but one of the best poems he ever wrote was about a dog: "I Saw a Tramp Last Night." Thanks Bill.
 
apropos de "On Drinking":
In Germany the MaroVerlag will publish it and at the moment I'm buzy checking for them each text for past appearences in German translation (copyright reasons).

If you've ever heared about the sick editing-practice regarding Bukowski in Germany around several publishing-houses over the past 5 decades you won't envy me. It's a crappy beast of a task.
 

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