Various (Bukowski, Charles; Cherkovski, Neeli; Ferlinghetti, Lawrence; Richmond, Steve et al.)

Sure: The Charles Bukowski Newsletter No. 1 (May 1991) with: Ephemera

Homeland, CA: Edward L. Smith, 1991. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. “You don’t see the punch until you’re on the floor—writing that is a surrealism of the everyday—firmly in the American tradition of the maverick—relies on emotion—painter—living proof of the healing and redemptive powers of art…unequivocal, unafraid, the poems transcend—writes for the people hardest to fool—full of zest, humor and fire…the courageous account of a human heart” (from “A Letter from the Editor,” pg. 2). Offered here is the first issue of “Sure: The Charles Bukowski Newsletter,” published and edited by the elusive Edward L. Smith, on whom we at TMB can find no reliable information. As Bukowski biographer and first-tier Baby Beat, Neeli Cherkovski (b.1945) writes in “From Neeli Cherkovski,” his apparently untitled contribution, this issue contains remarkable Bukowski-related rarities like “THIS ONE,” writing: “This is the first publication of THIS ONE since 1962 when it appeared in a poetry magazine I edited, THE BLACK CAT REVIEW. I was then a senior in high school and Bukowski’s early books, ‘Flower, Fist, and Bestial Wail’ and ‘Longshot Pomes for Broke Players’ were primary influences on my way of thinking. One day in the Winter of 1962, Bukowski drove out to San Bernadino to visit the poet Jory Sherman who was living with my family for a few months….I handed [a poem] to Bukowski and he responded: “What the hell is this? You wrote about me!” He threw the poem into the blazing fire. I reached in to grab it, slightly burning my right index finger. “Jesus, kid. I’m sorry,” he said as I wiped the ashes away. “I shouldn’t have done that." Well, the poem and the poet made it through the flames, and here it is, as written in those long-gone American Graffiti days” (pg. 5-6). As readers of Cherkovski’s Whitman’s Wild Children will recognize, this story is one of legend in the Cherkovski-Bukowski mythos and this is, to my knowledge, its only publication outside of the initial BLACK CAT REVIEW debut and potentially Cherkovski’s forthcoming “Selected Poems,” a retrospective volume covering the poet’s entire career, which isn’t out yet. The issue also contains work by Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919-2021) (two Bukowski-related drawings) and Steve Richmond (1941-2009) (“From Steve Richmond”), among others; altogether, a unique, self-produced, latter-day post-mimeo production built by and for Bukowskians everywhere. This lot also contains a bookmark from Water Row Books featuring a reproduction of a check written out by Jack Kerouac to a local liquor store; quite the fun little piece of ephemera! Softcover in stapled wrappers: the first and only printing of “Sure” magazine. In very fine condition with only slightest shelf-wear & light bumping to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine-edge and previous owner signature near top right-hand corner of title page, else pristine. Very Fine. [Item #5882]

Price: $25.00