Compared to the many beefy, thick collections available from both of these creators, this book is horribly anemic! Crumb fans get 5 drawings. Buk readers get 6 pages. If you think that's worth $6, then you won't be disappointed.

The art is nice. The story is about this s.o.b. who visits his insane woman at the asylum, a story that Crumb has parralled in his own comic about visiting his beloved brother in a mental institution. The difference here is that every paranoid thing coming out of the crazy person's mouth seems to be true, as if the crazy person really has been victimized by the s.o.b. visiting her.

This would have worked much better as part of a much larger compilation, but sold as a single story, it ain't much. You will finish this book in 10 minutes and wonder what the point is?!

Both Crumb and Buk have MUCH better books available.

Bring Me Your Love is a 1983 short story by Charles Bukowski. The story itself is above average for Buk and far superior to There's No Business, which is offered by Black Sparrow Press in this same format. The R. Crumb art is very compatible with the tale. It's the story of a man visiting his wife in a mental institution and the conversations that follow. Typical Bukowski subject matter...madhouses, women, sex, booze & not much hope at all. If your shelves are already filled with the real Buk books, I would definitely recommend adding this to your collection. Keep in mind, we are talking about a fifteen page book here! There's not much tohold, hence the great price.

If you like Bukowski, or Crumb, you gotta have this. The story is a typical Bukowski oddball love story, and the illustraions are like Crumb can see the mental pictures you get reading it. A great price too. I saw this one on e-bay going for like 15 bucks, people don't shop around I guess.

good collection of bukowski's work

"Play the Piano Drunk Like a Percussion Instrument Until the Fingers Begin to Bleed a Bit" is a collection of poetry by the prolific Charles Bukowski. In a down-to-earth, vernacular free verse, Bukowski poetically explores a number of recurring themes: women and sex, gambling and games of chance, alcohol, cigarettes, his life as a poet, and other writers.

I see Bukowski as a sort of literary philosopher-satyr who often writes about the crude, seedy side of life. Some of my favorite poems from this collection are as follows: "fire station," a bawdy, boozy narrative poem; "a radio with guts," about the narrator's drunken abuse of the title item; and "interviews," an ironic reflection on encounters with "young men from the underground / newspapers and the small circulation / magazines."

In this book the reader will encounter junkies, drunks, and various colorful characters. Bukowski's tone is sometimes melancholy; often the bawdy life of his poems is haunted by the specter of death. And I was intrigued by his occasional literary references: to Dos Passos, Mailer, Rimbaud, Hemingway, and others. Overall, a compelling volume.

This was my first ever Buk book. I was smitten with the first poem "tough company" which starts by stating that "poems are like gunslingers" before explaning why. An inspired piece for this inspired book. This collection contains a fair cross-section of Bukowski's works, we see into several aspects of his life here. A quick read, initially, but not to be taken lightly. I recommend this book as an introduction to any virgin Buk reader.

Charles Bukowski had a rare gift. He could make desperation beautiful. He could make hate and pain beautiful. Bukowski had a magic way of twisting emotions into poems of unimaginable shapes. Each poetic flash serving as a portal into one man's interpretation of life. And that, I think, impresses me most about Bukowski. There is no pretension. His work... simply is. Mocking Bird came out in 1979 and some readers commented that B. was going soft. What they fail to realize is that people evolve. Bukowski was still Bukowski, but perhaps his poet eyes began to see some different shades of gray. And we certainly can't fault him for that. .

I'm not sure what the reviewer from "southern california" was smoking when he wrote his review, but he couldn't be more wrong. It's a well-known fact that Martin never (I stress NEVER) got away with changing Buk's writing. The Buk himself said enough in regards to the problems with WOMEN, where Martin did in fact try to spice things up, but Buk caught EVERY SINGLE CHANGE, and demanded they be changed back, thus producing the only Buk/BSP book to be reprinted due to errors. Why then, would anyone think Martin got away with this with Buk's poetry? As far as literary attacks go, Buk fueled these on his own, and was notorious for burning numerous bridges (i.e the Webbs, the aforementioned Wantling, Steve Richmond, Marvin Malone, etc.). A good poem is a good poem regardless of who gets attacked. Most of these people retorted on their own, and understood the nature of the attack. I'm quite suspicious of this reviewer and am positive it is one of those poets who was villified in this collection, namely in the poem: "300 poems." "he was rich and I was poor / and the sea rolled in / and I turned the / white / pages." You know who you are. Regardless of any of that, this is one of Bukowski's finest literary achievements, hail the Buk!

Charles Bukowski is by sure one of my favorite poets. His work is vivid and very powerful. This book has my favorite poems by him, "Rain" and also "The Mockingbird"

This book had some intersting stuff and it was better in the beginning than in the end. This is the first thing i've ever read by him and i know some people who are really into his poetry, so that's why I picked up one of them from the library. Most of it .... Every once in a while a good poem comes up but most of it is choppy and reptitive and boring. I should have started with a different one.

Since this is a posthumous volume of poems I would expect some explanations or introduction from the publisher or someone else, like was this book prepared by Bukowski at the time of his death, if not why were these poems put in and not the others, when were the poems written or published, it's not enough to say between 1970 and 1990... etc...

As for the poems, Bukowski is always great, but I wouldnt recommend this book to Buk's beginner's, they should start by "War All the time" or "The days run away ...", "Septuagenarian stew" and some others before buying this one. It's more for completists, and I guess there are a few of us out there in the wilderness.

It's not just the sorry world his poetry echoes, but the massive machinery of Bukowski's technique that amazes. How spare, how cutting his line divisions, how they leave you gaping in mid-air. The man obviously studied as well as passively listened to the music he wrote about; it measures his lines and puts his sounds in invisibly proper order.

The book is a collection of character sketches in a world where ignobility wins trophies and troubles keep them polished and best of all it comes with the half-ring of a whiskey-glass stain on the rear cover.

an ok diary of a reading trip of hank's thru europe
good stuff if you're a fan of his
might be a bore if you werent already familiar with bukowski's work

Beautifully written by the master with wonderful black and white photos to match re Buk's trip to Europe. He gets kicked off a French tv station for drunken behavior and also visits his place of birth: Hamburg, Germany. Who could ask for more? Nice job all around. Love the title.

here, and nowhere else is the edge between life (read madness) (screaming late at night alone in the bathroom about toads and death, until his girlfriend brings him to bed, and not remembering it in the morning) and art this thin. ever. if you are curious about these things hold this up to the light like a black and white negative and regard it carefully.

You can't critique a collection of someone's letters on the same basis you would their published public works. But in this volume, the first thing you might wonder is why two articulate people chose to affect such an inarticulate, though sometimes inventive, style. All collections of Bukowski letters contain many cryptic and rambling missives of this sort, and I suppose they may be excused as the unedited utterings of a drunk and/or hung-over mind. But I'm led to believe that Bukowski produced a lot of work in that condition, including his better-crafted stories; so why must the letters be so sloppy? Even as first drafts, they're a bit much. And why Ms. Martinelli chose to emulate this style is another question, unless of course she was similarly indisposed. Maybe it was an accepted literary style in the '60s. At any rate, it makes the book a slow slog, although some new insights into Bukowski's nature and ideas may be winnowed with diligent application. Like many of the Bukowski-related volumes, this one seems to be more for the fan and collector than for the casual reader. There are a few photos of the two authors in the center of the book. Black Sparrow Press did its usual commendable job of design and production.

BEERSPIT NIGHT is an interesting entry into the volumes of Bukowski letters published by Black Sparrow. This is a venture between two people who were involved with Bukowski and Martinelli professionally and personally: John Martin, publisher of BSP, and Steven Moore, the editor of this book, respectively. The correspondence is lively, Bukowski seems to have met his match, and enlightening. Bukowski, as Moore states, reveals more of his artistic and literary leanings with Martinelli than he did with anyone else he exchanged missives with (Martin and Bukowski's widow may be the only other people to have seen this side of him). The book appears to have been a labor-of-love for Moore, who knew Martinelli, and Martin shows his usual loving care with this book as he has with every other Buk book. The only problem I have encountered so far (at only 1/4 of the way through) is Moore's decision to leave much of the original purposeful misspellings and colloquialisms of both Bukowski and Martinelli. It becomes quite tiresome, like spending hours trying to solve word problems. And, for some reason the footnotes are not numbered, so many a reader may actually pass them over not realizing they're there. Those who think they know everything about Bukowski might discover some revelations in these letters.

A-Z for Chjarles Bukowski material. The prices are reliable (for now) and the section on periodicals is worth more than the book's modest price.

A-Z for Charles Bukowski material. The prices are reliable (for now) and the section on periodicals is worth more than the book itself.

In a world of mush and juxtaposition Bukowski's work offers us a look at a world not many see or want to acknowledge exists. For it would be impossible to write about this lifestyle without actually living it. What thrills me about this poet is the fact that he was so successful in the mainstream sense of the word and he refused to change his lifestyle for the sake of his art - that is a quality not found in ANY art form today. Even the iconoclastic punk icons of our day are found on the cover of glossy fashions mags. Not Bukowski he went quietly about his business in the seedy side of town and in a quote from the movie "no one who could write worth a damn was ever comfortable" It is amazing that no one else has reviewed this work as Chinasky is a main character in many of Bukowski's works.

This is a series of drawings/cartoons with a storyline about a snowstorm in LA. Charles Bukowski is the cartoonist and author. It has funny bits in it and the pictures are childlike but offer another look at Buke and his art. It is short and for the obsessive collector it is a must. It can be found in an online form on a search of Charles Bukowski. It is worth a look but unless you find an autographed copy don't spend more than a few bucks for it. If the demand grows for this work John Martin at Black Sparrow Press will most likely get a hold of it and put it out. He is the Buke guru and has the lionshare of Bukes work. John got Buke out of the Post Office. Bukwosk rules and this is a funny book for the avid collector. Find it if you can and remember Bukes immortal words "Don't Try".

To make it short: this is not Bukowski's best work. And it doesn't have to be. He published over 40 books when he was still alive and all that is released now after his death are the Left-overs. Some are stronger, some are weaker, but one thing is clear: with collections like this one you might scare off future readers because what can be found in this collection is less than average in quality for Bukowski. If you want to go ahead and discover Bukowski (and I strongly recommend that), buy one of his earlier books of poetry like: Burning in water, drowning in flame OR Dangling in the Tournefortia. This is where you find some of the best poems ever written in English. This new book is o.k., but at least wait until it comes out in Paperback...

Much better stuff than previous posthumous publications. Buk may eventually surpass Hemingway for more books published dead than alive.

But you should. This posthumous poetry book starts by a killer poem "so you want to be a writer": "If it doesnt come bursting out of you/ in spite of everything/ don't do it./ unless it comes unasked out of your/ heart and your mind and your mouth/ don't do it./ if you have to sit for hours..." and so on, a poem for all those writes who want to "do" it, then just don't.

This is Bukowski's 6th poetry book published since his death, and since ECCO announces that it will be publishing more voulmes of uncollected poems, it seems probable that Bukowski's posthumous books of poetry will be greater than those he published in his life. The poems in this book, as well as in the last 6 books, are not really fillers, or second rate poems, they were not published because Bukowski and his publisher, were busy publishing other , more commercial or urgent books. As with all his books since "War all the time" published in 1984 (or even before that one) this book is a novel written in verse. The basic Buk's book is built around his alter ego, Chinasky, adn each book is the (autho) biography of this Chinasky. He writes to poets, writes about his father, mother, women, literary desert, and literary success late in life, working the factories and other underpaid jobs, horses, betting, death, the pleasure of being rich, and the problems of being famous. Each book includes one or more poems on these subjects and in a way they all tell the same story of Chinasky from different angles.

I have just finished the first reading of this book, and I have really enjoyed it, not everything is perfect but Buk is still the best american poet ever, even when he is not at his best. If you don't have to read it, don't, but I think you should...