Grapes, Jack (Bukowski, Charles)

This Thing Upon Me from The Tender Agonies of Charles bukowski

No Place: Jack Grapes, 2007. Limited First Edition. Stapled Wrappers. “It’s 1964. Late spring, almost summer. In New Orleans, the maple trees hang their leaves and branches over the old cracked streets. I’m sitting in a classroom, about to take the first of two French final exams, and if I am to graduate, I’d better pass them. I reach under my desk and bring up a copy of Racine’s Phaedre, pull an unopened letter from between its pages. It’s addressed to me, a thick black scrawl. On the top left corner it says: Buk. Short for Bukowski. A letter from Charles Bukowski. Racetracks. Whores. Fights in back alleys. Booze. The writer in the cheap room. And I’m sitting in a college classroom, having to focus on a French literature exam, in French. I’m dizzy with the two worlds swirling before me. Bukowski and the meat world of real poetry versus this academic rock pile of propriety. I know if I so much as slit open the envelope and read the letter, I’m a goner. So I slide the letter back into the book and put the book back under my desk and concentrate on Racine…”--Jack Grapes, pg. 7. Jack Grapes is an American award-winning poet, playwright, actor, teacher, and the editor and publisher of ONTHEBUS, one of the top literary journals in the country. The author of numerous critically lauded books including: Trees, Coffee, and the Eyes of Deer (1987); And the Running Form, Naked, Blake (1995); Breaking Down the Surface of the World: Part 1: Geography (1996); and All the Sad Angels (2014) just to name a few, Grapes is beloved and incredibly well-respected in literary circles. Offered today is the 2007 chapbook, This Thing Upon Me. Originally published in “Poetry East: Issue 34, Fall 1992,” This Thing Upon Me is a collection of essays and poems on Charles Bukowski (1920-1994). Often lyrical, sweeping, visceral, and dripping with pathos, This Thing Upon Me is, as Buk himself once said to Grapes, “The poems in your chapbook, This Thing Upon Me are as good as anybody can write.” An increasingly rare and valuable collectible related to the poet-vagabond-extraordinaire! Signed in thin black ink at copyright page by author. Chapbook in stapled wrappers. Limited first edition: “This edition is limited to 20 copies, numbered and signed by the author. This is copy #12,” as stated at copyright page. In very fine condition with only minimal wear to fine edges, slight rusting at staples, and slight smudging/staining to front and back covers. Very Fine. [Item #8098]

Price: $100.00