War All the Time: Poems, 1981-1984

by Bukowski, Charles

• ISBN13: 9780876856376
• ISBN10: 0876856377
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780061882067
• Format: Paperback
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

War All the Time is a selection of poetry from the early 1980s. Charles Bukowski shows that he is still as pure as ever but he has evolved into a slightly happier man that has found some fame and love. These poems show how he grapples with his past and future colliding.

Excerpts

I liked it coming out of that expensive

cafe in Germany

that rainy night

some of the ladies had learned that I

was in there

and as I walked out well-fed and

intoxicated

the ladies waved

placards

and screamed at me

but all I recognized was my

name.

I asked a German friend what they were

saying.

"they hate you," he told me,

"they belong to the German Female

Liberation Movement... "

I stood and watched them, they were

beautiful and screaming, I

loved them all, I laughed, waved,

blew them kisses.

then my friend, my publisher and my

girlfriend got me into the car; the

engine started, the windshield wipers

began thrashing

and as we drove off in the rain

I looked back

watched them standing in that

terrible weather

waving their placards and their

fists.

it was nice to be recognized

in the country of my birth, that

was what mattered

most ...

back at the hotel room

opening bottles of wine

with my friends

I missed them,

those angry wet

passionate ladies

of the night.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from War All the Time by Charles Bukowski Copyright © 2003 by Charles Bukowski
Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.