Charles Bukowski: The Wicked Life of America's Most Infamous Poet 

No-one else around (even when they happen to be in your "glorious" presence) and you doing "whatever you want" is neither freedom nor loneliness. It's narcissism. Only grey-walling works with the narcissists and gives sane people freedom from the narcissist.

@@bronx7886 nah, narcissists crave sycophants

Are people looking at him as a role model or just observation?

It’s called depression

@@dianele608 I would say a little bit of both

Don't be.

Don’t sweat it. Most of those people probably couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there themselves.

Same

I wonder what the context was, what question was asked for him to say such a thing

I took this as a statement on the value of solitude to certain types of introverts. My mind is in a constant state of creativity and deep thought when I am alone. I need that to survive. People don't understand that. They ask me if I am lonely, but I never feel alone when I am in solitude. They don't accept that answer though. When someone stops by, the energy changes, I can't stay in my element when someone else is around, doesn't matter who it is. I just want to find a way to get rid of them without hurting their feelings. It can't be done. This has cost me nearly everything, but it's non-negotiable.

That's not even slightly true. Infants are completely at the mercy of their surrounding humans.

@@What_I_Think_Happened I guess, but at least *some* infants are surrounded by people love them and care for them. In schools, you're practically guaranteed to be surrounded by people who don't care about you and make you feel trapped.

He is talking about what you believe

​@@What_I_Think_Happenedsome infants are surrounded by people who cheerfully will fulfill any of their wish

@@mevslife3080 Many others, perhaps most, are surrounded by people who neglect them, ignore them, or expect them to conform.

I read You Get so Alone in one sitting and almost didn't recover from it.

I agree. I can only take his poetry in small doses. It's just so real. Life is suffering.

Its honest

Ha! refreshing is not the word I would use to evoke it, not a word the great man himself would care for, I think. Try methylated, perhaps. The reason most can only imbibe Bukowski in small doses is because it’s source is nothing more or less than the epic and banal tragedy of modern life itself. You don’t scull a pure spirit, you sip at it, for to chug it down would be akin to pouring acid into the stomach of your soul.

​@@debhurd8898bukowski said "let it die" which was something a wise old buddhist monk would say...there's no doubt he had reached some enlightenment...the first of the 4 noble truths that lord Buddha taught is '"life is suffering" which basically means life is shit..even as a kid I had a distaste for it and wanted to be back in the spirit world

Should've tried less.

Yup

At least you have a dole.

@@cosmicman621 Every human has a hidden story and through our life experiences it can enhance a writer's work. If God has planted the seed of you becoming a writer maybe you should give it another try. Maybe you have a story that is unique to you that only you can dream up and envision that would be uplifting to many people the world over. Perhaps if you achieved success at an earlier age that very success would have destroyed you. Perhaps now you are more mature and ready for it. Just go for it and see what happens. Good luck.

I have to ask because I honestly don't know. What is a dole?

im sure that the fact that he was not only a published author, but would be considered among the Great American Authors (a la Keroack, Ginsborg, Borrows, Hemingway) would most definitely give him all the peace and satisfaction he would ever want.

@@abdul8685 Unfortunately, I'm not sure that this is true. Those without fame, wealth, and all that comes with those things always seem to presume that happiness and satisfaction are some of those things that come from wealth and fame. Yet, for those that achieve fame and wealth, very few seem to obtain happiness just merely from their success..

@@SoulSonder26 don’t worry. We see you, Don Cheadle

Poor woman, who gave so much and got so little back. He even said that his mother was the only woman he ever loved. Why do women sacrifice themselves for men like that... was it worth it? Did she ever write about it?

@@ebflegg $$$$

It's one thing for me to have been a misanthrope, but it's another for me to have been one that never had any ambition.

I was a child of beatings mental and physically from my late father. I'm 36 and now a struggling alcoholic. I have a 10 yo child and never hit her I couldn't I know what it feels like. I broke the cycle .

@@itsjustme9354 You're a good dad & I wish you all the best.

@@itsjustme9354 what’s a “struggling” alcoholic? anyway, get sober… don’t wait…. Don’t end up like me….. losing a 23 year old son in a car wreck because I was a struggling drunk…. You have a child or children… One life … Be wise 🙏🏼

@@itsjustme9354 You have a special sort of strength and decency, and I respect you. To all of us with broken fathers....all the best!

I was scared of my dad growing up. I have children and I promised myself I would never let them be scared of me. So it's not necessarily something that is handed down

Better Start late than never, just do it - just for the fun of it, and See where it takes ya. I wish you luck finding your purpose!

All will be well friend. Good luck

Shudda carried on drinkin my friend! 💣

@aurisnow; for myself, it was a case of; it's better to quit alcohol than wait for alcohol to quit me, know what i mean? cuz there's people still drinkin, not enjoying it, & the alcohol has long ago stopped enjoying them. like in that Neil Young song, it's better to burn out than it is to rust/better to burn out than fade away...to me burning out doesnt mean lying in the deep end of an alcohol addiction, internal organs all bloated & waiting to die, that would be a big fizzle. but finding the courage to make peace with life & live in peace with yourself,without the addictions, now that would be something, wouldn't it?

@@mindsigh4 didn't Bukowski say "find what you love and let it kill you"?

This is a great comment you sound like Holden Caulfield .🎉

It’s very raw but shows all the negativity of life he is holding within as expressed through his writing. It’s just misery really which is not the essence of life.

😮weel said❤

I'm proud of you for taking hold of your life

Where he is looking at his dad in the coffin and says, " got anything to say now dad? I didn't think so" Gut reality punch when I read it.

You can't drink from a poisoned well and not get sick

Which book would you recommend to a new reader?

@@HungL0W poetry? his book Mockingbird wish me luck. also, "play the piano drunk, like a percussion instrument, until the fingers begin to bleed a bit" (I don't know which books are still in print anymore. I used to own nearly all of em but many years ago...) another excellent poetry book of his, Last Night Of The Earth poems. brilliant. and novels; post office, Ham on Rye, Women and his short stories, Tales of Ordinary Madness"....

That's what happened to me lol. Picked one of Bukowskis poetry mix simply because I live in UK but I'm a Polish immigrant so I chose it just because it sounded Polish. The rest is history lmao

Dogs that have been abused and can not be trained to be NICE DOGS(anger&anxiety), can not be introduced back into society are euthanized, yea? No emotional resources=NO NICE MAN, yea? VINCENT VAN GOGH... LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN and the list goes on, yea? "EVERY WISH FULFILLED" E.T.

the not nice part when he drank heavily, (which was a lot of the time)yeah,. but when he recites that poem,in the way he says" people aren't good to each other... etc." theres a kindness in his voice & what matters to him, his cat (s) shopping at small stores, & btw, read his poetry & look at comment section how many people were helped by his love of getting it down on paper AS IS,with as little interference from any ambition other than to NOT write like all the other gutless wusses,& maybe not have to have yet another 9-5~ edit: fucking job, ahhh !!!

I mean Bukowski claims he's not political but his work reads like a nihilistic version of anti-capitalist theory without the academic jargon. We're all political in our own ways.

@@markgrayson6771 he did anything his bosses told him to do

@@markgrayson6771 He was more anti-everything, with the exception of alcohol and women. An anti-capitalist stance usually comes with some suggestion of what socio-political structure should exist in its place. Bukowski's suggestion of what he wanted was "leave me the hell alone".

The way our libraries are being targeted by those on the right these days, I’m afraid they’ll eliminate ways for younger folks to find him. I’m not saying he belongs in the kid’s section, but goddamnit he is important and NECESSARY and it scares me to think about the direction we’re headed where no unpleasantness will be tolerated, and nothing even vaguely upsetting can be part of our shared experience.

@@swesttttt you cannot be that dull and ignorant.... the right isn't targeting libraries and great literature, they're removing literal porn from libraries. Like book teaching 8 year old's about anal or grooming them for trans ideologies. Turn off the MSN and actually read the books on the list or the actual bills.

​@@swestttttthe right? I hope that's a joke. I'm apolitical but obviously liberals are the only people crying over words and banning books

Im so much more concerned about the censorship and propaganda coming from the left these days. Im sure Mr B would agree.

I hope you're well now

Same here

don't stop hoping. I pray for you

Agreed!!!

Sat, Mar 30, 2013 at 11:54 a.m. Hoffman was born November 30, 1936 in Worcester, Massachusetts to John Hoffman and Florence Schamberg, both of Jewish descent. Hoffman was raised in a middle class household and had two younger siblings. As a child in the 1940s-50s, he was a member of what has been described as "the transitional generation between the beatniks and hippies". This cannot be right, WikiPeadier Wrong Again. My Friend here in San Francisco, "Diamond" Dave Whittiker [Jewish; Minnesota] was a BEAT NIK who Introduced Bob Dylans Music to Allen Ginsberg. Dave is 10 Years my Senior, I think he was even born in December! That would be 1939. Abbie Hoffman was 100% Beat Generation, he just Found His Place in the '60's Peace/ Weatherman/ Anti Capitalist Hippies. Beat Niks did NOT Protest Violently against American Hedgemoney, they merely were Bohemeins, as were found in Euroupe. He described his childhood as "idyllic" and the 40s as "a great time to grow up in". On June 3, 1954, the 17-year-old Hoffman was arrested for the first time, for driving without a license. During his school days, he became known as a troublemaker who started fights, played pranks, vandalized school property, and referred to teachers by their first names. In his sophomore year, Hoffman was expelled from Classical High School, a now-closed public high school in Worcester. He wrote a paper declaring that "God could not possibly exist, for if he did, there wouldn't be any suffering in the world." The irate teacher ripped up the paper and called him "a communist punk". Hoffman jumped on the teacher and started fighting him until he was restrained and removed from the school.[2] After his expulsion, he attended Worcester Academy, graduating in 1955. Hoffman did many of the things typical of rebellious teenagers in the 1950s such as driving motorcycles, wearing leather jackets, and sporting a ducktail haircut. He enrolled in Brandeis University, where he studied under professors such as noted psychologist Abraham Maslow, often considered the father of humanistic psychology.[3] He was also a student of the Marxist theorist Herbert Marcuse, whom Hoffman said had a profound effect on his political outlook after studying his philosophy. Hoffman would later cite Marcuse's influence during his activism and his theories on revolution. Hoffman graduated with a B.A. in psychology in 1959. That fall, he enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, where he completed coursework toward a master's degree in psychology. Soon after, he married his pregnant girlfriend Sheila Karklin in May 1960. Early protests Prior to his days as a leading member of the Yippie movement, Hoffman was involved with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and organized "Liberty House", which sold items to support the Civil Rights Movement in the southern United States. During the Vietnam War, Hoffman was an anti-war activist, using deliberately comical and theatrical tactics. In October 1967, David Dellinger of the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam asked Jerry Rubin to help mobilize and direct a March on the Pentagon.[4] The protesters gathered at the Lincoln Memorial as Dellinger and Dr. Benjamin Spock gave speeches to the mass of people.[5] From there, the group marched towards the Pentagon. As the protesters neared the Pentagon, they were met by soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division[5] who formed a human barricade blocking the Pentagon steps.[4] Not to be dissuaded, Hoffman vowed to levitate the Pentagon[5] claiming he would attempt to use psychic energy to levitate the Pentagon until it would turn orange and begin to vibrate, at which time the war in Vietnam would end.[6] Allen Ginsberg led Tibetan chants to assist Hoffman.[5] Hoffman's symbolic theatrics were successful at convincing many young people to become more active in the politics of the time.[6] Another one of Hoffman's well-known protests was on August 24, 1967, when he led members of the movement to the gallery of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The protesters threw fistfuls of real and fake dollars down to the traders below, some of whom booed, while others began to scramble frantically to grab the money as fast as they could. [7] Accounts of the amount of money that Hoffman and the group tossed was said to be as little as $30 to $300.[8] Hoffman claimed to be pointing out that, metaphorically, that's what NYSE traders "were already doing." "We didn't call the press", wrote Hoffman, "at that time we really had no notion of anything called a media event." The press was quick to respond and by evening the event was reported around the world. Since that incident, the stock exchange has spent $20,000 to enclose the gallery with bulletproof glass.[9] In late 1966, Hoffman met with a radical community-action group called the Diggers[10] and studied their ideology. He later returned to New York and published a book with this knowledge.[10] Doing so was considered a violation by the Diggers. Diggers co-founder Peter Coyote explained: Abbie, who was a friend of mine, was always a media junky. We explained everything to those guys, and they violated everything we taught them. Abbie went back, and the first thing he did was publish a book, with his picture on it, that blew the hustle of every poor person on the Lower East Side by describing every free scam then current in New York -- which were then sucked dry by disaffected kids from Scarsdale.[11]

@@greedyfirstalgorithmlast26 I appreciate a copy/paste of the Abbie Hoffman Wikipedia page as much as the next guy, but why me? Why this video?

@@greedyfirstalgorithmlast26 Garbage

The Laughing Heart your life is your life don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission. be on the watch. there are ways out. there is a light somewhere. it may not be much light but it beats the darkness. be on the watch. the gods will offer you chances. know them. take them. you can’t beat death but you can beat death in life, sometimes. and the more often you learn to do it, the more light there will be. your life is your life. know it while you have it. you are marvelous the gods wait to delight in you.

Best reply I've ever read! Mucho gusto!

Lorenzo the Magnificent was a little bit more succinct": "Segui il tuo corso e lascia dir' la gente". Nevertheless, the Way of Bukowski has led to much salvation.

ya, it was real to hear him say that his dads violent a-holey-ness was a powerful motivator, but i think a big chunk of his realness, boldness, anger & inability to put up with bullshit from others AND himself had something to do with surviving teenage acne that was so bad it was on level with Kafka feeling like he was a cockroach. Edit ; must have made him suicidal &/or craving for drink to point of forgetting/ blackout relief.

Inspiration? Just a miserable bitter man.

@@RuminatingWizard Keep on projecting.

Love is a Dog from Hell ~ Charles Bukowski

Because he couldn’t write about anything else.

Well said. Soulr has been inspiring me personally for lil minute now

perfectly said he's great at this.

Yo I'm really stoned i legit thought you were talking to bukowski and not Soulr lmao

Impressive work.

Dude, it's an Awesome Sauce place to Be

Great job on the BUKE BIO. Been a long time fan of buke...I may have to back to my collection of his work and reread some of his words thx again for that Great bio!!

Really? You haven't searched enough.

I agree with you I really enjoy this

also, he did actually had a GREAT translator, at least in ex Yugoslavia. Like, Ive had one of his novels into my hands by accident recently, and said let me see what Ill see in it now when Im fourty two compared to when I was a teen and when I fell for this old fart. Inbetween we also had a war went separately, now its Croatia. And now its new translator, since old one was a serbian guy. And yea, not even close. Im not saying this one was bad, not even remotely, ut that serbian dude, he got him. He got him good. The great works literally cant be destroyed by even the worst translators, but they can have a huge difference.

Interesting

i get you. im in my mid 20s rn and on a tightwalk between taking the dull "safe" "good job" "good pay" marry whoever falls on my lap and call it "success" or go with something I processed and mapped out for myself. no matter how "ugly" it can get. I mean look at Chinaski, hes a fucking drunk tattered up lonely misogynist and he still got himself to the top of his own lil mountain. Bukowski is a legend for his honesty and for his commitment to doing what he truly loved and never letting anyone/anything shut his fire out.

You mean the path of becoming a world renowned poet the second half of his life? Yeah terrible path. What have you accomplished?

@@johngoldsworthy7135 Well, I have a house, two cars, two kids. I think I'm pretty set. Really? You think the end of his life was worth the suffering he endured getting there? Or even the suffering he inflicted on others? If you remember correctly he often stated that he hated the fame, and even sometimes the extravagance his new lifestyle brought. I dunno why you came at me passive aggressively, but I hope you get some help.

@@KarmaHauntsYou oh wow you have kids and a house! That makes you special in what way again? It’s pathetic that you find some comfort in your life after learning the hardship bukowski went thru, proceed to share that with the world, then call me passive aggressive when your post is dripping with passive aggressive horse sh*t (thanking bukowski for you taking the safe boring path in life). You have a demented, sanctimonious holier than thou opinion of yourself when all you’ve accomplished is the bare minimum. Come back when you’ve made an impact on millions of people and you have a legacy. You don’t have a molecule of talent in your body, and that’s fine. You play it safe; that’s fine. What’s not fine is pretending that you’re better than bukowski because you are anything but.

You also drank like nuts? 😁

"Do Lord deliver our kind".

Recent divorce or breakup?

@@andybaldman no just personal changes

@@susiefairfield7218 Ok. Know that people out there love you.

Oh no. Make no mistake. He did. not. try.

that is not his quote, it's kinky friedman's quote. It's a common misquote of Bukowski

David Seaburn hate to dissapoint you but iit was Kinky Friedman who said it.

Damm love this quote!

Being alone... here on RU-vid? You don't want to be alone. You are lying to yourself,

I remember a Hustler magazine that featured excerpts from a Bukowski book and interviewed him also. I was probably 20?

@@smwrbd Sweet . . . he was a force, that's for sure - and, because his words live on, he still is . . .

This is covered in the video; you should watch it

@@thefelicits It's important to elaborate on this point because it's the opposite of what many editors are today. Many are coddled, afraid, scared to publish such work. They don't have courage.

John Martin rewrote Bukowski's stuff after Hank died. He's a shady guy.

@@perceptionmanagement2116 Martin is an upfront and honest dealer who single-handedly built up the best independent publishing house in America in the 20th-century. He sold books. Buk didn't give a hoot about editing, apart from the one time with WOMEN. As long as the books sold, baby.

Yes, they mentioned John Martin in the video. I watched it.

He never said it would be.

When you have been in that mindset, truly, and you emerge finally to love, it is so painful to look over your shoulder. Never was an alcoholic but certainly solipsistic. I used to think this guy was so cool, now hearing him talk I only hear pure fear and hopelessness.

True. Still, Bukowski was one of the greatest poets ever.

Imitating Bukowski's philosophy of indulgence to find peace and ease makes exactly as much sense as jumping out of an airplane without a parachute because a few people survived it. God love him though, for doing something way better than surviving.

Totally agree

As long as you don't regret the way you lived then it is fine. You wrote for the love of writing and the joy it provided you. You discovered other writers and their wonderful thoughts. I say that's a life well lived even if your writing doesn't find fame at the level of Charles. After all that's the case for lots of people.

@@beegyoshi8401 Thanks for taking the time to write to me. Not finding any reward for my work has had a very negative effect on my psyche,

@@philfletcher3434 it is the same for me as well. I wished to write beautiful stories and poetry that changed people's lives but i never could. Im 30 right now and work an 8 hour job that I hate. But i don't worry about what is out of my control. I write for the love of writing. And if fate has it the world might just notice. If not thats ok as well. Since I'm not alone in my peril. I hope you too find contentment in life too despite it all sir. Good luck.

@@beegyoshi8401 Well Beeg, I'm a lot older than you and not finding the fame and fortune you feel you deserve from writing eats away at you like cancer, it does with me anyway; I live in a twilight world of a prolonged sense of failure.

You are an unpublished poet. That says it all.

that sentence itself has poetic elements in it; the inversion, the nice cadence of the vowels, the choice of 'mission'...

Unless you’re an artist who turns beauty into pain.

As an artist. I say-nope. Pain is pain. Beauty is beauty.

@@michellsmith4693 No. The blues is a musical art form which exemplifies the process of turning pain into beauty. Some of the most beautiful songs and works of art are expressions of pain made beautiful by the creative medium in which it was expressed.

@@michellsmith4693 Art is subjective. All organic artists and art-lovers appreciate this truth. 🦋

Man go make videos why haven’t u uploaded in a month

Perhapps because he likes to sleep in. Maybe he follows his own inner ideas. Maybe he likes to anger you. I sure do. Away it goes....

like shakespeare said," they laugh at scars who never felt a wound" hang in there brother, maybe ur writing or some other work/art or presence will help somebody else pull through, ya?

@@mindsigh4 Thanks man, always nice when you shout into the dark abyss of the internet and the echo of another human out there comes bouncing back

@@go_all_the_way how ya doin man? ive got a year not drinking now, i mess about with edible weed & guitar, prayer meditation while chanting, mumbling to guitar, it's like church only more honest,🌱🐾👣🌿🕊️🙏🏼🌎💌

@@mindsigh4 hanging in there. Big fan of the weed. Listening to lots of music and comedy podcasts while stoned has been my jam lately

Same here. At 50-yrs old it's been quite a few decades. I take it for granted, but reading your comment, I hate to say it, but I would not be here without reading his stuff in the 1990s

Tim Padleki. the best documantary on Buk is "Born Into This" try it

" . . . nothing beats me being alone.". Absolutely love that-- and totally agree 😊

Bukowski would have thought you were lame bro

truuuuuuu

You really got that tattooed? What a spazzzzz!

Maybe you prefer that sort of life.

I think he's a good comic too, I was lmao, the whole time haha I'm wondering why ? I'm the only one thinking this haha.