Charles Bukowski
Charles Bukowski (August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994), was a Los Angeles poet … Read Full Bio ↴Charles Bukowski (August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994), was a Los Angeles poet and novelist often mistakenly associated with Beat Generation writers because of alleged similarities of style and attitude. Bukowski's writing was heavily influenced by the geography and atmosphere of his home city of Los Angeles. He wrote more than fifty books and countless smaller pieces. He is often mentioned as an influence by contemporary authors and his style is frequently imitated.
Charles Bukowski was born as Heinrich Karl Bukowski in Andernach, Germany, to Heinrich (Henry) Bukowski and Katharina (née Fett). His paternal grandfather Leonard had emigrated to America from Germany in the 1880s. In Cleveland, Leonard met Emilie Krause, who had emigrated from Danzig (today Gdańsk, Poland), then part of Germany. They married and settled in Pasadena. He worked as a carpenter, setting up his own very successful construction company. The couple had four children, including Heinrich (Henry), Charles Bukowski's father.
Charles Bukowski's parents met in Andernach in western Germany following World War I. The poet's father was a sergeant in the United States Army serving in Germany following Germany's defeat in 1918.[9] He had an affair with Katharina, a German friend's sister, and she became pregnant. Charles Bukowski repeatedly claimed to be born out of wedlock, but Andernach marital records indicate that his parents married one month prior to his birth. Afterwards, Henry Bukowski became a building contractor, set to make great financial gains in the aftermath of the war, and after two years moved the family to Pfaffendorf. However, given the crippling reparations being required of Germany, which led to a stagnant economy and high levels of inflation, Henry Bukowski was unable to make a living, so he decided to move the family to the United States. On April 23, 1923, they sailed from Bremerhaven to Baltimore, Maryland, where they settled. Bukowski's parents began calling their son the Anglophone version of his first name ('Heinrich'), 'Henry', in order to help him assimilate, which the poet would later change to 'Charles'. Accordingly, they altered the pronunciation of the family name from /buːˈkɒfski/ boo-KOF-skee to /buːˈkaʊski/ boo-KOW-ski. Bukowski's parents were Roman Catholic.
The family settled in South Central Los Angeles in 1930, the city where Charles Bukowski's father and grandfather had previously worked and lived. In the '30s the poet's father was often unemployed. In the autobiographical Ham on Rye Charles Bukowski says that, with his mother's acquiescence, his father was frequently abusive, both physically and mentally, beating his son for the smallest imagined offence. During his youth Bukowski was shy and socially withdrawn, a condition exacerbated during his teens by an extreme case of acne. Neighborhood children ridiculed his German accent and the clothing his parents made him wear. In Bukowski -- Born Into This, a 2003 film, Bukowski states that his father beat him with a razor strop three times a week from the ages of 6 to 11. He says that it helped his writing, as he came to understand undeserved pain. Although he seemed to suffer from dyslexia, he was highly praised at school for his art work. This depression later bolstered his rage as he grew, and gave him much of his voice and material for his writings.
In his early teens, Bukowski had an epiphany when he was introduced to alcohol by his loyal friend William "Baldy" Mullinax, depicted as "Eli LaCrosse" in Ham on Rye, son of an alcoholic surgeon. "This [alcohol] is going to help me for a very long time", he later wrote, describing the genesis of his chronic alcoholism; or, as he saw it, the genesis of a method he could utilize to come to more amicable terms with his own life. After graduating from Los Angeles High School, Bukowski attended Los Angeles City College for two years, taking courses in art, journalism, and literature, before quitting at the start of World War II. He then moved to New York to begin a career as a writer.
On July 22, 1944, with World War II ongoing, Bukowski was arrested by FBI agents in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was living at the time, on suspicion of draft evasion. He was held for 17 days in Philadelphia's Moyamensing Prison. Sixteen days later he failed a psychological exam that was part of his mandatory military entrance "physical" and was given a Selective Service Classification of 4-F (unfit for military service).
When Bukowski was 24, his short story, "Aftermath of a Lengthy Rejection Slip", was published in Story magazine. Two years later, another short story, "20 Tanks from Kasseldown", was published by the Black Sun Press in Issue III of Portfolio: An Intercontinental Quarterly, a limited-run, loose-leaf broadside collection printed in 1946 and edited by Caresse Crosby. Failing to break into the literary world, Bukowski grew disillusioned with the publication process and quit writing for almost a decade, a time that he referred to as a "ten-year drunk". These "lost years" formed the basis for his later semi-autobiographical chronicles, although they are fictionalized versions of Bukowski's life through his highly stylized alter-ego, Henry Chinaski.
During part of this period he continued living in Los Angeles, working at a pickle factory for a short time but also spending some time roaming about the United States, working sporadically and staying in cheap rooming houses. In the early 1950s, Bukowski took a job as a fill-in letter carrier with the U.S. Postal Service in Los Angeles but resigned just before he reached three years' service.
In 1955 he was treated for a near-fatal bleeding ulcer. After leaving the hospital he began to write poetry. In 1957 he agreed to marry small-town Texas poet Barbara Frye, sight unseen, but they divorced in 1959. According to Howard Sounes's Charles Bukowski: Locked in the Arms of a Crazy Life, she later died under mysterious circumstances in India. Following his divorce, Bukowski resumed drinking and continued writing poetry.
Charles Bukowski was born as Heinrich Karl Bukowski in Andernach, Germany, to Heinrich (Henry) Bukowski and Katharina (née Fett). His paternal grandfather Leonard had emigrated to America from Germany in the 1880s. In Cleveland, Leonard met Emilie Krause, who had emigrated from Danzig (today Gdańsk, Poland), then part of Germany. They married and settled in Pasadena. He worked as a carpenter, setting up his own very successful construction company. The couple had four children, including Heinrich (Henry), Charles Bukowski's father.
Charles Bukowski's parents met in Andernach in western Germany following World War I. The poet's father was a sergeant in the United States Army serving in Germany following Germany's defeat in 1918.[9] He had an affair with Katharina, a German friend's sister, and she became pregnant. Charles Bukowski repeatedly claimed to be born out of wedlock, but Andernach marital records indicate that his parents married one month prior to his birth. Afterwards, Henry Bukowski became a building contractor, set to make great financial gains in the aftermath of the war, and after two years moved the family to Pfaffendorf. However, given the crippling reparations being required of Germany, which led to a stagnant economy and high levels of inflation, Henry Bukowski was unable to make a living, so he decided to move the family to the United States. On April 23, 1923, they sailed from Bremerhaven to Baltimore, Maryland, where they settled. Bukowski's parents began calling their son the Anglophone version of his first name ('Heinrich'), 'Henry', in order to help him assimilate, which the poet would later change to 'Charles'. Accordingly, they altered the pronunciation of the family name from /buːˈkɒfski/ boo-KOF-skee to /buːˈkaʊski/ boo-KOW-ski. Bukowski's parents were Roman Catholic.
The family settled in South Central Los Angeles in 1930, the city where Charles Bukowski's father and grandfather had previously worked and lived. In the '30s the poet's father was often unemployed. In the autobiographical Ham on Rye Charles Bukowski says that, with his mother's acquiescence, his father was frequently abusive, both physically and mentally, beating his son for the smallest imagined offence. During his youth Bukowski was shy and socially withdrawn, a condition exacerbated during his teens by an extreme case of acne. Neighborhood children ridiculed his German accent and the clothing his parents made him wear. In Bukowski -- Born Into This, a 2003 film, Bukowski states that his father beat him with a razor strop three times a week from the ages of 6 to 11. He says that it helped his writing, as he came to understand undeserved pain. Although he seemed to suffer from dyslexia, he was highly praised at school for his art work. This depression later bolstered his rage as he grew, and gave him much of his voice and material for his writings.
In his early teens, Bukowski had an epiphany when he was introduced to alcohol by his loyal friend William "Baldy" Mullinax, depicted as "Eli LaCrosse" in Ham on Rye, son of an alcoholic surgeon. "This [alcohol] is going to help me for a very long time", he later wrote, describing the genesis of his chronic alcoholism; or, as he saw it, the genesis of a method he could utilize to come to more amicable terms with his own life. After graduating from Los Angeles High School, Bukowski attended Los Angeles City College for two years, taking courses in art, journalism, and literature, before quitting at the start of World War II. He then moved to New York to begin a career as a writer.
On July 22, 1944, with World War II ongoing, Bukowski was arrested by FBI agents in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was living at the time, on suspicion of draft evasion. He was held for 17 days in Philadelphia's Moyamensing Prison. Sixteen days later he failed a psychological exam that was part of his mandatory military entrance "physical" and was given a Selective Service Classification of 4-F (unfit for military service).
When Bukowski was 24, his short story, "Aftermath of a Lengthy Rejection Slip", was published in Story magazine. Two years later, another short story, "20 Tanks from Kasseldown", was published by the Black Sun Press in Issue III of Portfolio: An Intercontinental Quarterly, a limited-run, loose-leaf broadside collection printed in 1946 and edited by Caresse Crosby. Failing to break into the literary world, Bukowski grew disillusioned with the publication process and quit writing for almost a decade, a time that he referred to as a "ten-year drunk". These "lost years" formed the basis for his later semi-autobiographical chronicles, although they are fictionalized versions of Bukowski's life through his highly stylized alter-ego, Henry Chinaski.
During part of this period he continued living in Los Angeles, working at a pickle factory for a short time but also spending some time roaming about the United States, working sporadically and staying in cheap rooming houses. In the early 1950s, Bukowski took a job as a fill-in letter carrier with the U.S. Postal Service in Los Angeles but resigned just before he reached three years' service.
In 1955 he was treated for a near-fatal bleeding ulcer. After leaving the hospital he began to write poetry. In 1957 he agreed to marry small-town Texas poet Barbara Frye, sight unseen, but they divorced in 1959. According to Howard Sounes's Charles Bukowski: Locked in the Arms of a Crazy Life, she later died under mysterious circumstances in India. Following his divorce, Bukowski resumed drinking and continued writing poetry.
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Charles Bukowski Lyrics
A 350 Dollar Whore Don't ever get the idea I am A poet you can…
A Radio With Guts It was on the 2nd floor on Coronado Street I used…
A Short Red Eye I used to hold my social security card Up in the…
Are You Drinking? Washed-up, on shore, the old yellow notebook Out again i wri…
Bukowski Bukowski's Still At It The curtains are waving and people W…
Bye To Everything Farewell, Foolish Objects I've lain in bed all day but I've…
Charles Reporting A Report Upon the Consumption of Myself I am a panther Cork…
Confession Confession Waiting for death like a cat That will jump on th…
Creation of the Morning Line The morning line runs about thus: Cliche: 6 to 5 originality…
Death It sit's outside my window now Like and old woman going…
Dinosauria We Born like this into this As the chalk faces smile as…
Eating the Father Eating the Father Well, the father was dead He died shortly…
Elegy for Jane 225 days under grass And you know more than I They have…
Finish Finish The hearse comes through the room filled With the be…
Free Free There's this airline they Give free champagne But I've…
Freedom He drank wine all night of the 28th, and he kept…
Giving a Poetry Reading Poetry readings have to be Some of the saddest damned things…
Hairy The Hairy Hairy Fist and Love Will Die The dull haunches…
Hot Hot She was hot she was so hot I didn't want Anybody…
I Met a Genius I Met a Genius I met a genius on the train…
I've Always Had Problems With Money I've always had trouble with money This one place I worked,…
Jam Jam Driving in from the track I always turn the radio on To…
Last Days of the Suicide Kid I can see myself now After all these suicide days and…
Law "Look" he told me "all those little children dying In the tr…
Life Experience There's a lady down the hall Who paints butterfl…
Looking for a Job Looking for a Job It was Philly and the bartender said "Wha…
Love Bluebird there's a bluebird in my heart that wants to get o…
My Friend André This kid used to teach at Kansas U Then they moved…
On the Hustle I was born to hustle roses down The avenues of the…
Poems by Charles Pt. 1 At the end of feat, the blackbird walks Shocked by palisades…
Radio with Guts It was on the 2nd floor on Coronado Street I used…
Rain Little dark girl with kind eyes When it comes time to…
Something For The Touts The Nuns The Grocery Clerk And You we have everything and we have nothing and some men do…
Style Style is the answer to everything. Fresh way to approach a…
Sucks There's a bluebird in my heart that Wants to get out But…
The Beast Van Gogh writing his brother for paints Hemingway testing hi…
The Best Love Poem "Listen" I told her "Why don't you stick your Tongue up my…
The Creation Of The Morning Line The morning line runs about thus: Cliche: 6 to 5 originality…
The Genius of the Crowd There is enough treachery, hatred, violence Absurdity in the…
The Hairy Hairy Fist The Hairy Hairy Fist and Love Will Die The dull haunches…
The Last Days Of The Suicide Kid I can see myself now After all these suicide days and…
The Mockingbird The mockingbird had been following the cat All summer mockin…
The Mystery Of I am in this low-slung sports car Painted a deep, rich…
The Poetry Reading Poetry readings have to be Some of the saddest damned things…
The Rat The Rat With one punch At the age of sixteen and a…
The Secret of My Endurance I still get letters in the mail, mostly from cracked-up men…
The Sex Fiends The Sex Fiends "I go to this rehabilitation center With my …
The Shoelace A woman, a tire that's flat, a disease, a Desire fears…
The Shower We like to shower afterwards (I like the water hotter than…
The Tragedy of the Leaves I awakened to dryness and The ferns were dead The potted pla…
Trading Insults Now i've been reading for two Hours and forty-five minutes W…
Trouble Trouble I had my camera and took the shot through The shop…
We Ain't Got No Money Honey But We Got Rain Call it the greenhouse effect or whatever But it just doesn'…
What Have I Seen I like your way, Catullus, talking about the Whore who claim…