Bukowski, Charles

Broadside: "462-0614" (Two Copies)

San Francisco, CA: Second Coming Press, 1976. First Printing. Single Sheets. "I get many phonecalls [sic] now. / they are similar: / "are you Charles Bukowski, / the writer?" / "yes," I tell them. / and they tell me / that they understand my / writing, / and some of them are writers / or want to be writers / and they have dull and / torturous jobs / and they can't face the room / the apartment / the walls / that night, — / they want somebody to talk / to, / and they can't believe / [...] / the streets / the loneliness / the walls / are mine also. / and when I hang up the phone / they think I have held back a / secret. / [...] / I too would like to hear words / that might ease / some of this. / that's why my number's / listed" (Abridged Qtn. from "462-0614"). A broadside (measuring 8.5 x 11") by Charles Bukowski (1920-1994), the great American author described by some as “the poet laureate of American Lowlife.” While Your Devoted VP-of-Operations here at Third Mind Books feels this is somewhat misleading when it comes to claims or critical contentions, it can be of use when thinking about Bukowski (despite the connotative limitations). Bukowski is unique in that he discusses “the life of the writer” in his development of 'a procedural poetics’ or ‘a poetics of procedure’ (both critical assignations, or ‘terms’ are mine). While Bukowski was far from the first to make use of the explicitly mental daily trials and triumphs of life as an author — (e.g., Baudelaire himself once wrote, “Inspiration comes of working every day”) — Bukowski continually churned these concepts; confronting them, laughing with or at them, and sometimes (in a most Jeff Ross-ian manner), “roasting them.” One enormously interesting distinction, however, is that Bukowski never puts a timestamp on these pieces. The struggles and almost comic inertia here referred to are typically the province of the underdeveloped, falsely confident, or emotionally afflicted author. The resolved and focused author typically has built a lifestyle around being the kind of person such inertia “doesn’t happen to,” — save brush-ups [or direct encounters] with tragedy (or other life-based melodramas, similar). At any rate, this choice of subject matter — and Bukowski’s inimitable way of mobilizing it — are part of what makes the author of “Crucifix in a Deathhand” endure, even today. This elusive Bukowski offering thus constitutes an enticing opportunity for the serious or aspiring collector and writer, alike. [1] Letterpress, small-format broadside on single sheet: First Printing — released as "Broadsheet No. 6" by A.D. Winans’ Second Coming Press. [2] Single sheet: presumed copy made on thin, pale yellow printer paper. In very fine condition with only minute shelf-wear to fine-edges of recto & verso sides, otherwise pristine; the cleanest copy of this broadside available anywhere. Very Fine. [Item #6840]

Price: $65.00