Synopses & Reviews
so you want to be a writer?
if it doesn't 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
and your gut,
don't do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.
if you're doing it for money or
fame,
don't do it.
if you're doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don't do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don't do it.
if it's hard work just thinking about doing it,
don't do it.
if you're trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.
if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you're not ready.
don't be like so many writers,
don't be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don't be dull and boring and
pretentious, don't be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don't add to that.
don't do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.
when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself andit will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.
there is no other way.
and there never was.
Review
"One of the most exciting releases of the last year is this posthumous collection of poems by the 20th century's most acclaimed and reviled poet. Lurking and lingering behind his outrageous verse is a compassion for being human surpassed by no other writer, except perhaps Vonnegut...but twice as funny, and far more honest and unsentimentalized than any living author could claim to be." Jesse DeClercq,The Bookshelf at the Boatworks, Tahoe City, CA
Review
"This volume is essential for Bukowski fans and an excellent introduction for new readers." Libary Journal
Review
"Bukowski's 10th posthumous volume collects yet more verse about the troubled, garrulous poet's traveling, gambling, thinking, aging, working, not working, romancing, drinking, self-mythologizing and even eating ("I opened a can of roastbeef hash/ and some pickled beets") as he fought through his blue-collar, beer-hall L.A." Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
One of the most recognizable poets of the last century, Charles Bukowski is simultaneously a common man and an icon of urban depravity. He uses strong, blunt language to describe life as he lives it, and through it all charts the mutations of morality in modern America.
Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, the Line, the Way is a treasure trove of confessional poetry written towards then end of Bukowski's life. With the overhang of failing health and waning fame, he reflects on his travels, his gambling and drinking, working, not working, sex and love, eating, cats, and more.
Sifting Through is Bukowski at his most meditative - published posthumously, it's completely non-performative, and gets to the heart of Bukowski's lifelong pursuit of natural language and raw honesty.
We recommend you read this as Bukowski wrote: by sifting through the madness for what hits you as the word, the line, the way.
Synopsis
from "neither Shakespeare nor Mickey Spillane"
young young young, only wanting the Word,
going mad in the streets and in the bars,
brutal fights, broken glass, crazy women
screaming in
your cheap room,
you a familiar guest at the drunk tank, North
Avenue 21, Lincoln Heights
sifting through the madness for the Word, the
line
the way,
hoping for a check from somewhere,
dreaming of a letter from a great editor:
"Chinaski, you don't know how long we've beenwaiting for you!"
no chance at all.
Synopsis
from "neither Shakespeare nor Mickey Spillane"
young young young, only wanting the Word,
going mad in the streets and in the bars,
brutal fights, broken glass, crazy women
screaming in
your cheap room,
you a familiar guest at the drunk tank, North
Avenue 21, Lincoln Heights
sifting through the madness for the Word, the
line
the way,
hoping for a check from somewhere,
dreaming of a letter from a great editor:
"Chinaski, you don't know how long we've been waiting for you!"
no chance at all.
About the Author
Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) achieved international fame with his 45 books of prose and poetry, including the novels Post Office, Factotum and Women, and the screenplay for the film Barfly.