Customer Reviews

The Continual Condition: Poems

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's a great although thinner collection of poems than we're used to. Usually, collections of Bukowski poems comes in much thicker volumes for the same price as this new collection costs.

I'm a big Bukowski fan but I can only give it three stars because at least 14 of the 63 poems are reprints from previous collections. A couple of the 14 poems have been altered slightly, but the rest are complete reprints. That's over 22% of the poems!

Some of the reprinted poems are from the "Bone Palace Ballet" collection. The poem called "My art form", was called, "My style" in "Bone Palace Ballet. The other are, "Full circle" and "The strange morning". "Mountain of horror" is almost the same as "Mountain", "Rejected" same as "My worst rejection slip", "Tragedy" is almost the same as "Reunion" in "Bone Palace Ballet".

From "Sifting Through The Garbage...": "Listening to the radio at 1:35 am"

From "The Flash Of Lightning...": "The last winter", "Moving towards age 73" same as "Poem for the young and tough" in "The Flash..."

From "War All The Time": "A hot sweaty day in August", "The continual condition" is the same as "The condition", "The last race" is the same as Part III in "Horsemeat"

From "What Matters Most...": "Thanks for the luck" same as "Thanks for that"

From "Play The Piano...": "To kiss her long dark hair" same as "To weep" in "Play The Piano..."

Although the collection is great, I would still recommend buying another Bukowski poem collection instead if you have'nt read all the previous ones already. You'll get a better bargain that way, because most of the other collections are up to 400 pages long and the price is about the same as for this one - or cheaper!

Fifteen years after Bukowski's death it looks like the barrel of poems he left behind to be posthumously published has finally reached bottom. At a meager 127 pages (previous collections averaged better than 300 pages with the one before this weighing in at a hefty 550 pages) one surmises that the material has either run out or the publisher has decided to milk the remainder for all it is worth by trickling it out in smaller doses. Either way, I suspect this is the last book of Bukowski's poems I will buy.

Not only is there not much good new stuff here, but despite the dust jacket's claim of "never-before-collected" (sic) at least 15% of the pages are devoted to poems which were published almost verbatim in previous volumes. "a hot sweaty day in August" appeared as "a sweaty day in August" in War All the Time (1984) and "Mountain of Horror", "The Strange Morning", and "Full Circle" appeared as "Mountain", "The Strange Morning Outside the Bar", and "Full Circle" in Bone Palace Ballet (1997).

The final lines of that last poem sum up this collection nicely:
another dirty trick in a dirty trick
world

Do yourself a favor and get your Bukowski fix by finding the classic old Black Sparrow editions of his work, including the two mentioned above. There's more there, both in quantity and quality, and the books themselves have more integrity as objects than the more recent Harper Collins/ecco offerings.

Hardcover,127 pages,not including title page,contents,etc. The paper stock is a cream-white,and the type face is very easy to read-even in a "poetry format". The cover consists of a number of drawings which look (and may be) by Charles Bukowski. I base this conclusion on a couple of hardcover editions of one of his books I own,from years ago,where Bukowski did a self-portrait in pen on one of the blank pages,which seem identical in style and feel. This book is actually between 3 and 4 "stars" because of the availability of some of the poems and the slim number of pages in the book itself.

This (slim) collection of poetry is yet more unpublished work by Bukowski,collected by his long time publisher,John Martin. A number of these poems were originally published as broadsides by some VERY small publishers years ago. Having been a long-time reader of Bukowski,the feel of these unpublished poems is from his earlier (there are no publishing dates) and some say best stages,when his writing was even less self-aware than it became later on.

The subject matter is typical (read "my soul is gone",or "you've seen it on the barstool next to you", as examples) Bukowski-bars,drinking,women,horse tracks,lonely late-nights or just plain loneliness,etc. However,the writing style is a bit more immediate,a bit more visceral in feeling. The words of each poem seem to fit together tightly,with little that is expendable. These are simple,straight forward thoughts and pictures that Bukowski was a master at putting together. There are a few poems from later in his life,which are obvious from the subject matter (having money,a house,etc),but they are sprinkled throughout sparingly.

For readers of Bukowski who like his earlier work,this is something to look out for. For those who like his later stages of writing,this will give some (small) insight into how it all began. An expensive book for the number of poems,but the style,the subjects,and Bukowski's outlook on life as he sees,lives,(and writes about) it,is,perhaps,worth it. I wonder if this is perhaps the last book we'll see of Bukowski's work-this is slim pickings for the money being charged. Hopefully its not strictly a money-making-bottom-of-the-barrel release. But with several titles in this edition already published and available,the feeling of Bukowski's name = $ begins to creep in.

As Buddha smiles
John Martin is losing
what's left of his mind
repeating on pg 108
"the same sun" poem
that appears on 104

You'll love this hardcover. I also recommend CB's friend's poetry--look for books by A.D. Winans.