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Rating: 
Summary: Still doing his thing, better than all the others
Review: 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...
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Summary: Getting the Hang of Being Dead?
Review: Much better stuff than previous posthumous publications. Buk may eventually surpass Hemingway for more books published dead than alive.
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Summary: please be more careful with the man
Review: 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...
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