Hi all,
I'm trying to identify the real people behind a column in Notes of a Dirty Old Man (City Lights, from Open City, probably 1968). It's the one where Bukowski sits by a Venice (CA) canal with a street poet called Jack, then they go to a friend's place, where Jack asks "the Bird" for $20 and gets it. The Bird is a young man with a beautiful, almost androgynous face, a wife, and a bookcase of good books. He makes collages, and Bukowski rants about cut-ups and collages as a fad. The piece ends with the line about a dead battery.
Jack is described as a famous street poet of the 50s who knows Ginsberg, Creeley and Lamantia. I suspect Jack Micheline: Sounes, Cherkovski and the Living on Luck / Screams from the Balcony letters show they were close in 1968-69, and Micheline visited Bukowski in LA. But I can't find any source that names him in this column, and I can't find anyone who identifies the Bird.
What I've already checked (no mention of Bird or this episode): Sounes, Cherkovski's Hank, Screams from the Balcony, Living on Luck vol. 2, Winans' memoir of Micheline, and the 3:AM interview with Steve Richmond.
Does anyone know:
1. Whether Jack is Micheline?
2. Who the Bird was (a nickname? a real friend in Venice/Ocean Park?)
3. The exact Open City issue/date of this column?
Any pointers to letters, memoirs or footnotes would be great. Thanks!
I'm trying to identify the real people behind a column in Notes of a Dirty Old Man (City Lights, from Open City, probably 1968). It's the one where Bukowski sits by a Venice (CA) canal with a street poet called Jack, then they go to a friend's place, where Jack asks "the Bird" for $20 and gets it. The Bird is a young man with a beautiful, almost androgynous face, a wife, and a bookcase of good books. He makes collages, and Bukowski rants about cut-ups and collages as a fad. The piece ends with the line about a dead battery.
Jack is described as a famous street poet of the 50s who knows Ginsberg, Creeley and Lamantia. I suspect Jack Micheline: Sounes, Cherkovski and the Living on Luck / Screams from the Balcony letters show they were close in 1968-69, and Micheline visited Bukowski in LA. But I can't find any source that names him in this column, and I can't find anyone who identifies the Bird.
What I've already checked (no mention of Bird or this episode): Sounes, Cherkovski's Hank, Screams from the Balcony, Living on Luck vol. 2, Winans' memoir of Micheline, and the 3:AM interview with Steve Richmond.
Does anyone know:
1. Whether Jack is Micheline?
2. Who the Bird was (a nickname? a real friend in Venice/Ocean Park?)
3. The exact Open City issue/date of this column?
Any pointers to letters, memoirs or footnotes would be great. Thanks!
