The Pleasures of the Damned: Poems, 1951-1993

Freaking amazing! I'm not going to get all flowery and sentimental because Bukowski I don't think would have appreciated it or thought it too trite expressing the elite-est "cuteness".Bukowski wasn't cute or pretty in his writing...he wrote what he saw around him with an awake and aware in-the-moment presence that is reality. Reality is not pretty or kind. I love his writing for that.Also I found the words to his dead love in the poems "for Jane: with all the Love I had, Which Was Not Enough:", "Notice", and "for Jane" more touching than anything I have read in a long time. The grief he felt was enormous, world wrecking and I identified with that grief since I lost my husband and soul mate two years ago. I cried on the evening train reading these poems and found myself saying aloud "He KNEW!"No one that has lost such an integral part of themselves is able to express that sort of gut wrenching of a tribute without having truly loved and suffered greatly.He made me laugh, think, gasp at the rawness of life I remember seeing living in the outskirts of San Francisco in the 70's. He took down a memory lane of my own childhood and re-examine myself in a way I haven't in a very, very long time.I never met you, Chuck, but I feel like I knew you, I would buy you a drink at the races if I could. Thank you for being so brutishly honest and more clean in your observations about the world than 80% of the population.Bukowski clean? Oh, yeah.He stripped down things to what they actually are instead of what society likes to pretend them to be. That to me is a clean, healthy lungful of fresh air! He was vulgar in his language, but in case you haven't really stepped out of your cubicle or hide-y hole...the world IS vulgar, uncivilized and mean and a vast majority of us in the lower classes (which is damn near anyone under a million anymore) lives with that. We're your elderly on the pensions and social security, waitresses, garbage men, retail sales people, and secretaries. You know, the ones the upper classes can't live without because we are the professional maids and nannies and buttwipers making minimum wage to slightly over, but still in the poverty level that make their world go round. We see the unsanitized and unedited truth. Mother Nature is one cruel mother. Bukowski had the balls to say it!Thank you again for your humanity and insight.

Charles Bukowski or whichever of his colorful names he went by, was a fantastic poet both beat poet in establishments for money or beer or both, or in written in print, but also a beautifully spirited poet that has some of those works also featured inanother book by Bukowski called ‘Run With the Hunted’. I would suggest both of these books. ‘Hunted’ is not pure poetry, though. There is some of Bukowski’s background in it. This book was great to read. A nice array of the author’s poetry.

His writing take some getting used to, but it grows on you eventually.

This is my favorite bukowski collection. Totally recommend

This is an excellent collection which leads to an excellent read. I find myself going to the work each night just before calling it quits for the day. It offers comfort and inspiration. As an aspiring writer Bukowski cheers one on to find the materials in everyday life and times to write about the here and now. In Bukowski's verse we find a poet grounded in the everyday circumstances of living in the now. Pleasures of the damned maybe fleeting but somehow they seem so much more real then the promises of an eternal life with streets paved with gold and moments of eternal bliss.

There's a lot of good in this book, but it misses some incredible poems. First of all, I'm really surprised that Some People didn't make it in... seeing as how it's easily one of Bukowski's most quoted poems. Same with Wandering in the Cage.My first Bukowski poetry book was Betting on the Muse. It made me fall in love with the dude. But the choices here are pretty terrible. Avoiding Humanity, the secret, let not, a challenge to the dark, think of it are all essential Bukowski. The worst omission is easily "let it enfold you." It's a fantastic poem of Bukowski examining life and allowing himself to be happy with what he has. It's one of his all time best, and it's hard to justify not including it.What Matters Most... has the most poems of any of his books, but most of the choices are just, eh. Lifedance is essential, icecream people is great, as is a vote for the gentle light and be alone. 25 poems from this book are here, and they didn't do a very good job of picking the best.A few more that are absolutely essential: i met a genius, dreamlessly, splashing, hug the dark, downers, they are everywhere, alone with everybody, and it's a shame.But most (definitely not all) of the poems in this book are fantastic. The last few written near the end of his life are pretty perfect. There are some hilarious ones (who needs it, a threat to my immortality), great political ones (American Flag shirt, putrefaction, commerce), and of course all the big ones (crunch, genius of the crowd, bluebird, etc).It's a fantastic collection. But don't stop here. Don't even think about it.

Really appreciated having so many of his best poems in one book with a great index. Easy on the eyes print and plenty of open space on each page for notes and doodles (Let's face it, paperback paper won't last long enough to become an heirloom.), but at this price I can afford to add it to my library. Would make a great gift or a book on guestroom shelf for visitors.

I keep this book by my bedside table, and if I'm too tired to read anything more substantial, I read one or two of Bukowski's poems before bed. Reading this man's work is like being punched in the guts. He has a way with words that affects me viscerally as a reader, and because this is a compilation of work over the years, the earlier poems are very different to the later ones. This is actually like reading a life in poetry. It's bloody phenomenal.