Random Thoughts that relate to Bukowski in some way (2 Viewers)

On vacation for a week and reading Martin Eden for the... time. It always reminds me of Buk. Great novel about words and labor and success coming just a little too late. Though London's story ends very differently than Hank's, they both captured a time when work WAS labor and the possibilities for another kind of life very remote.
 
Today I saw a poster of Bukowski in a book shop window - $40. I made a u-turn in my car and walked up but the store was temporary closed for the next 30 mins. I planned to wait in a cafe nextdoor, but that goddamned place didn't open for 30 mins either. So I left empty-handed.

Opening at 11am. Insanity.
 
This is when I try to capture seething rage. I just ordered Shake Spear Never Did This. I ordered it via Amazon. The company that had the used copy for about $24 was booksmans exchange. I went with normal shipping. I waited 5 days then starting peeking each day through the blinds of my front door 1st thing in the morning. There was no book there day after day. Each day I peeked thru the blinds like a 4th grader who looks out the window each day in the winter hoping for snow on the ground in the dream of a day off from shool. I looked each day. After many days of pure torture, as I waited for my next Bukowski FIX, my intuition threw me a heavy, "you better check your email, there may be a problem." My intuition was dead on the money.

The dirty low down no good stinking bums who deserve to rot in hell did screw up my order by telling me that the book was no longer available. The God Damn rat bastards. I have been waiting day after day after day and they are not even sending the book?

I totally lost it when I saw that I had waited all those days for a new visit with Buk and the whole process had not even started yet. I stood up and screammed and yelled. It was a total 'shoelace' moment. You never know when you are gonna have one of those moments when you get so pissed off you want to break something.

So I try to remain calm and I ordered from a different book seller. I had waited 11 DAYS and I had to start all over again. I tried to rush the book and that option wasn't available for some reason. When I finally get that package and can open it up and see the book I will sit and read / look at it for a whole afternoon.

You are not going to believe this. I just got online to enjoy this site but 1st I looked at my emails and Amazon sent me an email that the debit card wasn't groovy enough to process my order. I had to use another card. Oh my Holy Lord of the God of all God's and how they relate to the suffering of each man or woman as they exist in the Physical realms of the Earth will you please help me to stop suffering in the process of ordering Buk's "Shakespeare Never Did This."

The wine I am drinking will help to ease the pain.
 
I stood up and screammed and yelled. It was a total 'shoelace' moment. You never know when you are gonna have one of those moments when you get so pissed off you want to break something.

Great poem reference.
 
Makes you wonder if it was all a lot less hassle when we did it the old fashioned way; walked into a shop, saw what we wanted, handed over (what's that stuff called - oh, yes, cash) and then left with our purchase.
I also had a bad experience recently buying something from ebay, bought it, the money came off my account, then I got a message from the seller, saying he was sorry but he'd sold it privately and could I send him my e-mail and account details so he could reimburse me, stupidly I was in the process of doing this, when a message popped up on the screen from ebay saying Do Not Send Your E-Mail address, (or something like that, a bit bossy, but thank god) he sent several more requests but I just did it all through ebay and eventually got my money back, but I was really worried in case I had lost the money.
 
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Well, it could have started with the quote that John Webb had made up, which was repeated through several important avenues. The famous made up quotation, claiming that Sartre, Genet and Miller had said of Bukowski, "that he was the best poet in America". Secondly, Carl Weissner's Bukowski translations, made Bukowski's name in Germany. Carl had also used Jon Webb's quotation, which probably helped to sell 50,000 copies of the poetry bestseller titled Poems Written Before Jumping Out of an 8 Story Window, a title already used in a 1968 Bukowski chapbook .

You can read more about that in Sartre, Genet, Miller and Bukowski: Unveiling the Myth by Abel Debritto.
You can pm me if interested in Abel's chapbook. Ponder and I still have copies, $10. all in.
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I think that Bukowkis anti-labor mentality got alot of coherence with the European crowd. Which at the time went threw a change from the traditianal European socialist mentality to a more, inspired by the USA, libertarian mentality. Change me if im wrong.
 
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Sure he didnt want a litterary hand-out, but what about the money? And it doesnt really matter what he wanted or not. If those quotations help his sales in Europe or not, his views on the matter does not really matter do they?
 
Oh, he liked money, that's for sure. He worked like a dog to get it. But I really think he hated the thought of owing anybody anything. I think that's partly to blame why he broke off some of those relationships along the way.
 
He seemed to have little stomach for whiners. Jon Webb could literally never write a letter without a litany of woes and a roundabout plea for money. In Bukowski there was a stoicism that ran parallel with his hatred of the system.
 
And to be fair, he did get a literary hand out from John Martin. Sure, it was only $100 a month, but he wouldn't have written his first novel without it. It was more of a loan really. Buk produced the novel in less than a month and Martin ended up picking a race horse that made him a small fortune. Martin got repaid in spades for the risk.
 
Well, if you want to tie it back to that and come full circle, Carl Weissner was not one of the people Buk cut off relations with. Weissner made Buk a shit load of money, but apparently Buk didn't feel beholden to him in a negative way. I have no idea what Weissner made, but I'm guessing it wasn't alot.
 
I think that Bukowkis anti-labor mentality got alot of coherence with the European crowd. Which at the time went threw a change from the traditianal European socialist mentality to a more, inspired by the USA, libertarian mentality. Change me if im wrong.

I think it was his pleasingly subversive, personal rejection of big business and pursuit of wealth that made him attractive to European socialist tendancies.
Did he really want wealth? seems to me as long as the rent got paid and he was free to write and not go hungry he was ok. I think the very attractive anti consumerism is what made many middle/ruling class Americans twitchy. Not party political but he has universal appeal to working class people everywhere.
 
And to be fair, he did get a literary hand out from John Martin. Sure, it was only $100 a month, but he wouldn't have written his first novel without it.
Post Office wasn't the first novel Bukowski wrote (though it may be the first one he finished).

As for the money Martin offered to pay Bukowski, if I offered you $600 a month right now to quit your job, would that do it for you? Could you make it on that? Because that's what the famous $100 a month would be in today's dollars. Not enough to pay rent on the shittiest ghetto apartment anywhere within a hundred miles of Los Angeles, let alone rent, food, liquor, stamps, envelopes, paper, typewriter ribbons, taxes, insurance, child support...

The money Martin offered Bukowski didn't hurt him, that's for sure, but he also didn't need it to survive. It's unlikely that he could have survived on it even if he wanted to try (it was less than a sixth of what he made as a postal clerk). He had substantial savings, and it was more likely those savings that allowed him to quit the post office. The offer from Martin was more a show of faith than financial support.

But I don't think there's any question that the show of faith meant quite a lot to Bukowski. Much more than some small sum of money that has now been mythologized far beyond it's real and actual importance.
 
I was just stating it for the record. Agreed it was a tiny sum of money. And Bukowski didn't brag about it like Miller (not that there was much to brag about). My best friend (when I was 25) gave me a copy of Tropic of Cancer. We were both Bukowski fans. And I just remember putting it down after 100 pages and saying, "This guy's such a dick!" I was a young Dead Head in those days and Miller reminded me of every scammer I came across in the parking lot on the tour. I just wanted to piss all over him... Still do...
 
I have a new random thought. Even though I've got a sinus infection and feel like crap I most post this. I refuse to be a procrastinator. I want to get this done. So, I went into the post office to buy some of these very colorful flower stamps that are called la Florida from the US Post Office. I never buy stamps to keep but I wanted these.

They were sold out! I got this brochure from the clerk. As I looked in the brochure I saw that they have a group of stamps that you can buy of famous poets. Famous US poets? Really? I looked at the names. The only poet I know or care about is Buk so I hope I don't offend any "real" poetry people out there but I am going to add commentary to the listings.

Joseph Brodsky...who the hell is that?
Gwendolyn Brooks...who the hell is that?
Williams Carlos Williams...OK, I'll let this guy slide because Buk used to write him letters
Robert Hayden...who the hell is that?
Sylvia Plath....oh crap...I've heard of her. OK she stays.
Elizabeth Bishop...who the hell is that?
Wallace Stevens...who the hell is that?
Denise Levertov...who the hell is that?
E. E. Cummings...alright he's OK. Buk used to mention him in letters.
Theodore Roethke...who the hell is that?

Where the Hell is Bukowski? Where the Hell is Bukowski??? Well he's not on the list and we all know why. He was the "Outsider of the Year 1962." He didnt' fit in. He didn't go to parties. He didn't dress nice. He didn't get along with other people. He had bad teeth. There were too many empty beer bottles on his floor.

But, we all know that he was better than all of these driveling little snobs. I'm not surprised Buk doesn't have a stamp. It's obvious he wouldn't get a stamp. He wouldn't want a stamp. We all know he wouldn't get a stamp. Buk don't need no stinkin stamp.
 
Joseph Brodsky...who the hell is that?
Gwendolyn Brooks...who the hell is that?
Williams Carlos Williams...OK, I'll let this guy slide because Buk used to write him letters
Robert Hayden...who the hell is that?
Sylvia Plath....oh crap...I've heard of her. OK she stays.
Elizabeth Bishop...who the hell is that?
Wallace Stevens...who the hell is that?
Denise Levertov...who the hell is that?
E. E. Cummings...alright he's OK. Buk used to mention him in letters.
Theodore Roethke...who the hell is that?

I'll agree with the W.C.W., Plath, Cummings, and Roethke; but Buk needs to have his own official stamp.

Perhaps the other people he 'left behind' at the old P.O. annex really were jealous of him for getting out. Buk said somewhere in a poem (paraphrasing): "they were like crabs in a barrel/pulling each other back down." I don't think it is within human nature to celebrate someone who did the same shit-job that you do, who then quits, walks away and realizes their dreams. It's like if everyone at your job played the lottery except you and they won a babillion dollars. You might have a touch of indigestion upon passing one of them in the street.

I am very surprised that there is no Maya Angelou stamp. Isn't she the "poet laureate" of the USA or some such ridiculous thing?
 
Is there still any "honor" in being on a postage stamp? When people actually had to use postage stamps, it was a big deal. The face on the stamp was everywhere. Now it's kind of a cruel joke, isn't it? To have your face put on a postage stamp no one will ever see?

"I hate that fucker."
"I know, I do too."
"How can we really get him? I want to fill his car with rotten fish or something."
"Yeah, like, I don't know, go to his house while he's sleeping and glue all the locks shut."
"No, wait! I know! Let's get the USPS to put his face on a postage stamp!"
"Ha ha ha ha!"
"Oh ha ha! Ha ha ha! That's it!"
 
Well, he did win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1987 and was poet Laureate of the U.S. in 1991-1992. One would think that these would count for something.

Interestingly, in both the US and UK at the moment both Poet Laureates are female:
Carol Anne Duffy (a Scot :-))) in the UK and Natasha Trethewey in the USA. It's a bit anachronistic isn't it? but if it helps spread poetry as well as the more formal creation of poetry for "significant" events, then well and good. No strong feelings on it all, really.
 
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I am so glad that Poder posted those stamps. It makes me fell better that Buk DID in fact have a stamp. In fact he had two different stamps. Thanks for that Ponder. I have nothing against Joseph Brodsky. He was obviously a smart fellow. I was just blowing off steam. I felt really weird the night I typed that. It turns out I had a sinus infarction. I took the meds and now 'the wine feels good tonight...yes it do.' That's an old song lyric from my old best band.

Here is the file of the current stamps they're putting out. I hope it is big enuf for you folks to see
 
I just had a random thought or should I say an actual observation. I'm re-reading Neeli Cherry's book again because I have time. Time is however not on my side. Since I'm a Philly guy (technically I live in the suburbs but my whole life involves interaction with the city) I love Cheesesteaks. All of the Philly people love cheesesteaks. It is a huge point of pride for us. Philly Dave will back me up on this.

So I'm reading and I find on page 280 of "Bukoski: A Life" about how Linda Lee is apalled by Hank's eating habits. She wants to help him eat better. Neeli says, "He used to go to a place called Philly's Hoagie Shop at Western and Sunset, where he would either eat a Hoagie or a cheese-steak sandwich."

Ha Ha Ha. Music to my ears! I would have never imagined that there was a place like that out there. I get a real kick out of the fact that Buk, while he was in Philly in the mid 1940's, almost certainly got hooked on that type of food while he was my town and all those many, many years later still had a hankering (desire) for that delicious food. Three Cheers for the Philly Cheese-steak.
 
I just had a random thought. I don't know if anybody out there watches funny movies that are supposedly for kids but can also make adults laugh like Monster's Inc for instance. Well they just came out with Monster's University and I watched it because nights can be dull on planet Earth at times. Has anyone noticed that Billy Crystal's little green character's last name is Wazowski? Thats right, Wazowski. You change out the first 3 letters to Buk and you got our man, Bukowski. Very interesting.....or may be not. just sayin
 
And in Disney's 'Cars' there is a forklift truck called Bruiser Bukowski. Strange but true.
 
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I find it strange that this character wasn't mentioned at Bukowski.net (as a slight curiosity).
I mean, "Bukowski" is not as frequent as "Smith" or "Brown" so one wonders whether J. Rado or G. Ragni knew who (H.)C. Bukowski was.

Then again it's not a big deal, just a curiosity.
 

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