Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame Review

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(More customer reviews)For a writer as prolific as Bukowski, it might be difficult to know where to start. This is a guy who continues to write a book of poetry a year despite being dead for over a decade. If you are just being introduced to his poetry for the first time, my recommendation is Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame. It might have to do with where I was and what was going on in my life when I read it, but to me 1955 to 1973 are the best years of Bukowski. During this period, his writing focused on gambling, drinking, and prostitutes. This is clearly Bukowksi's strength. In some of the later writings he's a minor celebrity, going to poetry readings, sleeping with groupies, working on his screenplay... That's all entertaining too but not the best and certainly not the place to start.
This collection of poems includes three of my favorites. "To the whore who took my poems" which includes the lines "next time take my left arm or a fifty/ but not my poems:/ I'm not Shakespeare/ but sometime simply/ there won't be any more, abstract or otherwise;/ there'll always be money and whores and drunkards..."
And the poem "a 340 dollar horse and a hundred dollar whore" which I believe will resonate with anyone who has been to the track and had a long shot come in for them.
And my favorite, "startled into life like fire." All the great poets are cat-lovers. A full discussion of why this is true might be beyond the scope of this review, but I stand behind the statement. This is the only Bukowski poem that makes me weep. I read this poem while sitting shiva for my beloved cat Mingus, but I used to fall apart reading this poem long before he passed on. It reads in part:
"neither of us understands
cathedrals or
the man outside
watering his
lawn
if I were all the man
that he is
cat-
if there were men
like this
the world could
begin"
Libman's quickies on beginner Bukowski:
Beginner Bukowski for poetry, as stated above, Burning in Water Drowning in Flame. Beginner Buk for short stories would be Tales of Ordinary Madness. For a novel, start with Factotum. And enjoy.

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