Was Bukowski bisexual? (1 Viewer)

Bukowski wasn't gay but his boyfriend was.

I'm bisexual, if I want sex I have to buy it.

My wife is bi-sexual. She says if I buy her something she'll get sexual.

That's all the jokes for now.


lmao

that's some funny shit
:D

writing about
a homosexual experience
makes a person bi- or homo- ?
not in this person's opinion

in your dreams olaf
 
In your dreams olaf?

eh...what did I say? I never said Bukowski was gay or bi.

He was a straight as an arrow.

Why did I get brought into this?
 
So the last time this came up we all dropped it, because of the controversy
of him being bi or not. And then someone posted the issue months before with the same responses.
We can all agree to disagree- maybe this is an opinion we should all keep to ourselves, and disagree.
And we all do stupid shit when we are drunk and just don't admit it....maybe I can't stick it in a girl, but i sure remember kissing a few! :)
 
Then there's that part in "Remember Pearl Harbor?" "You're so dammed ugly, nobody would want to rape you." reply- "I was worring more about getting myself a little."

The bit about Getting a little PUNK action in Jail. "There are never enough punks to go around so the boys have to make a few extra to fulfill thier needs." reply- "That's sensible."

I've been in jail, and would never think about doing a guy, I wouldn't even write about doing a guy. He had some issues with it I think.
 
Bukowski had sex with a guy? Since a lot of his writing was ambiguous in regard to fact and fiction somehow I find it hard to believe
 
ahhh... the threas that I thought had died!

Yes, he wrote about having sex accidentially with a man. I find this odd, as you would think that he would have to know.

I cannot imagine that he would have made something like this up though, so it has always confused me....

Bill
 
ahhh... the threas that I thought had died!
Yes, he wrote about having sex accidentially with a man. I find this odd, as you would think that he would have to know. I cannot imagine that he would have made something like this up though, so it has always confused me....
Yeah, dead threads come up again like Lazarus.

You're right, Bill, I also always wondered, how he could mistake a man for a girl, even if drunk or it's dark. An asshole is a much different entrance then a pussy. Maybe he intended to butt-fuck that person, which he thought was a girl? But he doesn't write about this variation of sex elswhere, does he? So why would he try it just now. Another possie wouldbe: that guy had vaseline around and in his butt already, so Buk came in as smooth as into a wet pussy, THEN he might mistake the feeling.

concerning the original start of this thread, I go with Bukfan, to state: Norse as well as Cherry were homos, who might have been aware of certain things/feelings more than others, or reflect them in a different way. (I know some homos, who tend to see a homosexual allusion in almost everything.) And Buk sure had a 'soft', sensitive side.

on mjps reference to Linda K. (in his 2nd post of 2/26/2006):
In Loving and Hating Bukowski, she does give thoughts on the subject.

I quote from a passage at the very start:

"The humping guns..." I open the book to a poem and came to the lines. "God tongues out your ass hole." I was shocked at his irreverence to God. "Is Charles Bukowski homosexual?" - "There he is now," said Peter. "He's with Neeli Cherkowski." I looked out the window and two wild looking men were wrestling in the parking lot across the street. Bukowski was about fifty with a Will Rogers hair cut, rather heavy and bellowing, "I can whip your ass, punk." The younger man had long, curly, matted hair and looked like a high school or college student. When Neeli walked in the door Peter, the owner, asked pointedly, "Is Charles Bukowski a homosexual? This lady would like to know." I was startled and Neeli was speechless for a brief moment, then he said, "He doesn't suck my cock."

and much later (at a party):

When I looked in, Bukowski had Steve, the homosexual, by the legs raised in the air and he was dancing him around in circles, laughing and roaring as he danced. Bukowski had been lifting weights and he was very strong. All of a sudden his 44 inch pants, which were two or three sizes too big, fell to the floor, and he was dancing in his boxer shorts. He tripped and fell with Steve. They ended up in a tangled pile on the floor. [...]
I made it to the back door with Bukowski leaning heavily on me. As we got outside he spotted Steve. "Come here and say goodbye, we're leaving." He grabbed hold of Steve and gave him a big sloppy French kiss. I thought, Jesus Christ, what in the hell is he doing. Steve looked at me in shock and then gave me a small kiss. I waved goodbye to all and we got into the car. I thought of my first meeting with Bukowski with his young pal, Neeli, and wondered again if he was bisexual.

end of quote.

of course all this doesn't mean anything.

My personal oppinion is, that IF he had a true tendency in this direction he Would've had the guts to live it out open, so we would know. But then he grew up in 'the old L.A.', and thus was a little onesided/traditional in terms of sexuality anyway (see the fact that he never got down on a girl before age 50). So, we're back to the start. (till this thread dies and reincarnates again.)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
ahhh... the threas that I thought had died!

Yes, he wrote about having sex accidentially with a man. I find this odd, as you would think that he would have to know.

I cannot imagine that he would have made something like this up though, so it has always confused me....

well this may not be entirley related to this thread, and I was going to start a new one, but this ones been so fun to read....speaking of made up (?) stories. the one (one of the ones) that I have a hard time believing is the account that he related in a letter to Ivan Suvanjieff,on pg. 216 in "reach for the sun" I think that it may also have possibly been in "Notes" and maybe a poem somewhere too? anyway, its of buk staggering down an unknown street in an unknown city(maybe philly or east kansas) Drunk/hungover, beaten,bloodied and robbed. lost and trying to find his room.when he comes upon a man with his eyeball dangling on his cheek, ("I saw one of his eyeballs dangling...it was out of his head... dangling on a thin thread... it swung back and forth upon the thread as he walked... like a pendulum...") then he goes on to write about what a coward he feels because he was unable to stop and help the fellow. A great story, and a really strong underlying statement. but c'mon... do you really think...?
 
nobody is purely heterosexual.
buk exerted machoism, and this is where i think we can compare him to hemingway especially.
but buk's stemmed from childhood, learning to be tough...heming's from childhood, being treated / even dressed like a girl.

i think sexuality is a choice so i think buk chose to be straight. one or two -same-sex experiences don't make somebody gay or bi, in my opinion. things just happen.

^it was illogical for me to write nobody is purely one sexuality, then write that people choose. i guess i meant everyone can choose, but nobody is purely one way or the other
 
where B would show him his pecker and asked Norse to show his in return.

If he was sober, then I dunno...but if he was drunk I don't think it means anything. It's not all that odd if somebody does something like that while he's drunk. Alcohol makes weard things happen.
 
Come on man, that's such bullshit, that things happen that are completely out of character when you are drunk. Maybe things that you don't readily embrace, or don't like to admit about yourself come out more readily when you are drunk, but alcohol doesn't change your sexual preference.

I've been drunk enough to forget my name, but I could still tell the difference between a man and a woman. And even if you were drunk enough to be unable to tell the difference, there's no way you'd be able to fuck anyone in that condition anyway.
 
I've been drunk enough to forget my name, but I could still tell the difference between a man and a woman. And even if you were drunk enough to be unable to tell the difference, there's no way you'd be able to fuck anyone in that condition anyway.

I once confused my freinds goldfish for a women. so I don't know, maybe its possible to change sexual preferences under the influence of substances.
 
Come on man, that's such bullshit, that things happen that are completely out of character when you are drunk.

I didn't really say all that much. I do think that alcohol does bring subconscious(?) desires and such things to the surface. So yes he obviously had some intrest in such things, but how much?

And what I was talking about was the whole "show me your's and I'll show mine" thing. It's not exactly like "hey, fuck me in the arse and I'll fuck you" kinda thing. So does such thing make a person gay or bi?
 
I didn't really say all that much. I do think that alcohol does bring subconscious(?) desires and such things to the surface. So yes he obviously had some intrest in such things, but how much?

And what I was talking about was the whole "show me your's and I'll show mine" thing. It's not exactly like "hey, fuck me in the arse and I'll fuck you" kinda thing. So does such thing make a person gay or bi?

once again, bullshit
 
nobody is purely heterosexual.
buk exerted machoism, and this is where i think we can compare him to hemingway especially.
but buk's stemmed from childhood, learning to be tough...heming's from childhood, being treated / even dressed like a girl.

i think sexuality is a choice so i think buk chose to be straight. one or two -same-sex experiences don't make somebody gay or bi, in my opinion. things just happen.

I agree with what's being said here.
 
i have a tough time accepting that sexuality is a choice. having seen a family member driven almost to suicide due the pressures of coming out, i have to wonder why the hell he would have chosen that lifestyle for himself if it were really that simple.
 
Well, in The Day We Talked About James Thurber from Most Beautiful Woman, he engages in a three-way and receives a vigorous and graphicly described blowjob from the boy in the story (even describing the moment when he grabs the boy's head and comes in his mouth).

And, for what it's worth, he identifies the narrator in this one as Charles Bukowski, so I dunno ... do the math. No big deal, anyway.
 
i have a tough time accepting that sexuality is a choice. having seen a family member driven almost to suicide due the pressures of coming out, i have to wonder why the hell he would have chosen that lifestyle for himself if it were really that simple.

That's sad that happened, that's fucked that one can't just be who they are without that kind of pressure. I hope you relative is doing better.

When I was agreeing about choice I was more thinking about it like this...
I don't think people realize what sexuality they are until they fall truly in love and that the sex of the person shouldn't matter, if it's love, and therefore one would then make a choice. But I do believe some individuals are born either gay or straight while others later choose in life due to experiences.
 
I don't think people realize what sexuality they are until they fall truly in love and that the sex of the person shouldn't matter, if it's love, and therefore one would then make a choice. But I do believe some individuals are born either gay or straight while others later choose in life due to experiences.
I think that there are certainly both cases. There is no doubt that many people are born gay. Sometimes it is clear from a very early age, even before they have any interests in sex. Then there are those that choose it. Still, I think that a majority do not choose it. It chooses them, which makes the gub'ment sponsored discrimination so wrong. Frankly, two men or two women getting married does not effect my life in the slightest. Why should I care? Why should it bother me? Yet in state by state voting, they ban same sex marriage. I think that very rarely would a person choose a lifestyle that makes them a second class citizen and opens them up to harassment, ridicule, attacks and discrimination based on what they do when they are in private.

People need to be happy in their lives and let others be happy in theirs.

Bill
 
That's right, Bill! As Buk says in one of the stories in Erections... when a guy asks him about choosing writing as a career, "You don't choose to write. The writing chooses you!"
As for same sex marriages, the bible-thumbers still have too much power.
Live and let live!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Who gives a crap really? I mean, what does that have to do with his work? Whether you consider that normal or a form of mental illness, it's time to put that stuff aside.

Live and let live, is what I've always believed. It's what I was taught.

joe
 
As the definition of "bisexuality" is hardly universal and there is very little evidence to suggest that he is or isn't (and I mean beyond the writing that would rub up against the topic), I would say it's near impossible to guess. I would wonder how this would change the reading of his work (if it would change it at all) and therefore I would ask what is the point in asking?
I know that curiosity forms the question but in the end I wonder if it would alter anything--
 
It does not change the writing at all. It is important to get a clear understanding of Bukowski as a person, though. This gives us another piece of the puzzle that is public Bukowski vs. Private Bukowski.

Bill
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top