Charles Bukowski poem and story database

The Pleasures of the Damned

Published in 2007 by Ecco  (Anthology consisting mostly of previously published poems)

Now - circa 1972
The Mockingbird - pg. 1 - 1971
Something's Knocking At The Door - pg. 2 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - circa 1991-1994
His Wife, The Painter - pg. 4 - circa 1959
On The Sidewalk And In The Sun - pg. 6 - 1972
The Elephants Of Vietnam - pg. 8
Dark Night Poem - pg. 9 - 1985
The Last Days Of The Suicide Kid - pg. 10
Tabby Cat - pg. 12 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1976
Metamorphosis - pg. 14
A Poem Is A City - pg. 15 - circa 1962
A Smile To Remember - pg. 17 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1983
A Free 25 Page Booklet - pg. 18
They, All Of Them, Know - pg. 21 - circa 1965
A Future Congressman - pg. 26
Eulogy - pg. 28 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1984
The Drowning - pg. 31 - circa 1965
Fooling Marie (The Poem) - pg. 33 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1982
The Young Man On The Bus Stop Bench - pg. 36 - 1977
For They Had Things To Say - pg. 39 - circa 1957
Silly Damned Thing Anyhow - pg. 40
Upon Reading An Interview With A Best-Selling Novelist In Our Metropolitan Daily Newspaper - pg. 42 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1990
Harbor Freeway South - pg. 43 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1981
Schoolyards Of Forever - pg. 46
In The Lobby - pg. 50
Sex - pg. 52 - 1976
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place - pg. 53
Something For The Touts, The Nuns, The Grocery Clerks And You - pg. 56 - 1964
Blue Beads And Bones - pg. 62 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - circa 1968-1970
Like A Cherry Seed In The Throat - pg. 64 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1975
Turnabout - pg. 65
Mystery Leg - pg. 67
The Girl Outside The Supermarket - pg. 74 - manuscript - circa 1968-1970
It Is Not Much - pg. 75
2 Outside, As Bones Break In My Kitchen - pg. 77 - circa 1962
The Japanese Wife - pg. 78 - circa 1960
The Harder You Try - pg. 80 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - circa 1991-1994
The Lady In Red - pg. 81 - manuscript - 1979
The Shower - pg. 82 - 1971
I Was Glad - pg. 84
The Angel Who Pushed His Wheelchair - pg. 86 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1972
A Time To Remember - pg. 89 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1985
The Wrong Way - pg. 90
No Wonder - pg. 92 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1983
A Threat To My Immortality - pg. 94 - circa 1971
My Telephone - pg. 96 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1983
Carson McCullers - pg. 98 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1981
Mongolian Coasts Shining In Light - pg. 99 - circa 1962
Putrefaction - pg. 100 - manuscript - 1985
Where Was Jane? - pg. 102 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1984
Something About A Woman - pg. 105
Sunday Lunch At The Holy Mission - pg. 107
Trashcan Lives - pg. 108
School Days - pg. 110 - 1973
Grass - pg. 112 - circa 1965
Crucifix In A Deathhand - pg. 113 - circa 1965
The Screw-Game - pg. 115
Millionaires - pg. 117
When You Wait For The Dawn To Crawl Through The Screen Like A Burglar To Take Your Life Away - pg. 120
The Talkers - pg. 121
Advice For Some Young Man In The Year 2064 A.D. - pg. 122 - circa 1964
Art - pg. 122
Ice For The Eagles - pg. 123 - circa 1964
Girl In A Miniskirt Reading The Bible Outside My Window - pg. 124 - circa 1971
Hell Is A Lonely Place - pg. 126
The Girls And The Birds - pg. 129 - manuscript - 1986
1813 - 1883 - pg. 131
No Leaders, Please - pg. 132 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - circa 1983-1990
Song - pg. 133 - circa 1985
One For Sherwood Anderson - pg. 136
Bow Wow Love - pg. 137
The Day The Epileptic Spoke - pg. 139 - manuscript - 1982
When Hugo Wolf Went Mad - pg. 141 - circa 1959
In A Neighborhood Of Murder - pg. 142
The Strangest Sight You Ever Did See - pg. 143 - 1974
The 2nd Novel - pg. 146 - manuscript - 1975
Junk - pg. 148
Mademoiselle From Armentieres - pg. 150
Society Should Realize - pg. 155 - manuscript - circa 1968-1970
The Souls Of Dead Animals - pg. 157
The Tragedy Of The Leaves - pg. 159 - circa 1960
The Birds - pg. 160 - circa 1959
The Loner - pg. 162 - circa 1977
The Genius Of The Crowd - pg. 165 - 1966
German Bar - pg. 168
The Snow Of Italy - pg. 169 - circa 1963
For Jane: With All The Love I Had, Which Was Not Enough - pg. 171 - 1962
Notice - pg. 173 - circa 1993
For Jane - pg. 174 - 1962
Eulogy To A Hell Of A Dame - pg. 175 - 1983
Barfly - pg. 177 - circa 1988
Was Li Po Wrong? - pg. 178
The Night I Saw George Raft In Vegas - pg. 180
I Am Eaten By Butterflies - pg. 182
The Veryest - pg. 184
Man Mowing The Lawn Across The Way From Me - pg. 186 - circa 1973
Oh, Yes - pg. 188 - manuscript - 1983
Poop - pg. 189 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - circa 1991-1994
Phillipe's 1950 - pg. 194
Downtown - pg. 195 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1977
Elephants In The Zoo - pg. 197 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1973
Girl On The Escalator - pg. 198 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1990
The Shit Shits - pg. 201 - circa 1970
Big Time Loser - pg. 204 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - circa 1976-1983
Commerce - pg. 206
Come On In! - pg. 210
The Bakers Of 1935 - pg. 211
Secret Laughter - pg. 215 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1982
Democracy - pg. 216 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1986
An Empire Of Coins - pg. 217
What? - pg. 221
The American Flag Shirt - pg. 222
Now She's Free - pg. 223 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1977
The Simple Truth - pg. 224
Gold In Your Eye - pg. 226
A Great Writer - pg. 228 - circa 1970
The Smoking Car - pg. 230
The Shoelace - pg. 232 - circa 1971
Self-Inflicted Wounds - pg. 235 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - circa 1983-1990
Verdi - pg. 237
The Young Lady Who Lives In Canoga Park - pg. 240 - circa 1974
Life Of The King - pg. 243
My Failure - pg. 245
A Boy And His Dog - pg. 247 - 1977
Liberated Woman And Liberated Man - pg. 250 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1980
Small Talk - pg. 252 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1990
The Crunch - pg. 254 - circa 1977
Funhouse - pg. 258
The Poetry Reading - pg. 259 - circa 1970
Somebody - pg. 261
The Colored Birds - pg. 263
Poem For Personnel Managers - pg. 265 - circa 1957
My Fate - pg. 270
My Atomic Stockpile - pg. 271
Bruckner (2) - pg. 272 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1979
Hello, How Are You? - pg. 274 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1990
Vacancy - pg. 275
Batting Slump - pg. 277 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1978
Bang Bang - pg. 279
The Pleasures Of The Damned - pg. 281 - circa 1962
One More Good One - pg. 282
The Little Girls Hissed - pg. 285 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1983
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha, Ha Ha - pg. 288 - circa 1971
Thoughts From A Stone Bench In Venice - pg. 289 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1975
Scene In A Tent Outside The Cotton Fields Of Bakersfield - pg. 291
3:16 And One Half - pg. 295
A Literary Discussion - pg. 297
Butterflies - pg. 300 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1974
The Great Escape - pg. 302 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1992
My Friend William - pg. 304
Safe - pg. 306
Starve, Go Mad, Or Kill Yourself - pg. 308
The Beautiful Lady - pg. 310
My Life As A Sitcom - pg. 311
Who Needs It? - pg. 313 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - circa 1991-1994
Riots - pg. 314 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1992
Those Marvelous Lunches - pg. 315 - circa 1991
The Look - pg. 321 - circa 1951
The Big One - pg. 322
The Genius - pg. 323
About The PEN Conference - pg. 327 - manuscript - 1986
What A Man I Was - pg. 328 - circa 1959
Scarlet - pg. 332
Like A Flower In The Rain - pg. 334
A Killer - pg. 336
Prayer In Bad Weather - pg. 337 - 1976
Melancholia - pg. 340 - 1976
Eat Your Heart Out - pg. 342
I Made A Mistake - pg. 344 - 1976
She Comes From Somewhere - pg. 345 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1974
The High-Rise Of The New World - pg. 346 - circa 1965
Car Wash - pg. 348
Van Gogh - pg. 349 - 1976
The Railroad Yard - pg. 351 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1978
The Girls At The Green Hotel - pg. 352 - 1975
In Other Words - pg. 354 - 1981
Destroying Beauty - pg. 356
Peace - pg. 357 - circa 1991
Afternoons Into Night - pg. 359 - circa 1973
We Ain't Got No Money, Honey, But We Got Rain - pg. 361
Marina - pg. 372
Trollius And Trellises - pg. 373 - circa 1988
Beagle - pg. 378 - circa 1961
Coffee And Babies - pg. 379 - circa 1972
Magical Mystery Tour - pg. 381
The Last Generation - pg. 383 - manuscript - 1981
About Competition - pg. 387
A Radio With Guts - pg. 388
The Egg - pg. 390
A Killer Gets Ready - pg. 392 - circa 1966
In The Center Of The Action - pg. 394 - 1972
Poetry - pg. 395
Notes Upon The Flaxen Aspect - pg. 396 - circa 1972
The Fisherman - pg. 398 - circa 1973
The 1930s - pg. 399
The Burning Of The Dream - pg. 401 - manuscript - 1986
Sit And Endure - pg. 410
Goldfish - pg. 411 - circa 1961
Finish - pg. 412 - circa 1965
Dreaming - pg. 415
My Special Craving - pg. 416
A Love Poem - pg. 418 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1974
One Writer's Funeral - pg. 421
The Wine Of Forever - pg. 423
The Pile-Up - pg. 425 - manuscript - 1991
My Big Night On The Town - pg. 426 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - circa 1991-1994
Close Encounters Of Another Kind - pg. 429
Drying Out - pg. 431
Scene From 1940 - pg. 433 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - circa 1991-1994
The Area Of Pause - pg. 434
I Know You - pg. 436 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - circa 1991-1994
Relentless As The Tarantula - pg. 438
The Replacements - pg. 440 - 1991
To Lean Back Into It - pg. 441
Eating My Senior Citizen's Dinner At The Sizzler - pg. 443 - manuscript - 1983
It's Strange - pg. 447 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1977
The Beast - pg. 448 - 1970
Woman On The Street - pg. 450 - circa 1962
Lost In San Pedro - pg. 451 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1986
Manx - pg. 454 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1979
The History Of A Tough Motherfucker - pg. 455 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1983
Bad Fix - pg. 458 - circa 1978
One For The Old Boy - pg. 460 - 1983
My Cats - pg. 462 - 1989
Death Wants More Death - pg. 464 - circa 1957
The Lisp - pg. 466
On Being 20 - pg. 468
Meanwhile - pg. 470 - circa 1969
The World's Greatest Loser - pg. 471
Human Nature - pg. 473 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - circa 1991-1994
The Trash Men - pg. 476
A Gold Pocket Watch - pg. 478 - 1975
Talking To My Mailbox - pg. 479 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1983
I Liked Him - pg. 481
One For The Shoeshine Man - pg. 482
The Proud Thin Dying - pg. 485 - circa 1975
Shot Of Red Eye - pg. 486
About Pain - pg. 491 - manuscript - 1983
Hot - pg. 492 - circa 1973
Who In The Hell Is Tom Jones? - pg. 495 - 1975
The Price - pg. 497 - 1975
I'm In Love - pg. 499
The Girls - pg. 501
The Ladies Of Summer - pg. 502 - 1972
Tonight - pg. 503 - manuscript - 1976
Shoes - pg. 504 - 1985
Hug The Dark - pg. 505
Face Of A Political Candidate On A Street Billboard - pg. 507 - circa 1974
White Dog - pg. 508 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1977
On Going Out To Get The Mail - pg. 509 - circa 1965
Spring Swan - pg. 511 - circa 1958-1964
How Is Your Heart? - pg. 512
Closing Time - pg. 514
Racetrack Parking Lot At The End Of The Day - pg. 516 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1990
There - pg. 519
Dinosauria, We - pg. 520 - manuscript - 1991
Mind And Heart - pg. 523
Twilight Musings - pg. 524
TB - pg. 525 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1990
Crime Does Pay - pg. 527 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1993
The Nurses - pg. 531 - manuscript - circa 1988-1989
Cancer - pg. 533 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - 1990
First Poem Back - pg. 534
Tired In The Afterdusk - pg. 535 - manuscript - 1986
Again - pg. 536
So Now? - pg. 537 - circa 1994
Blue - pg. 538
A Summation - pg. 539 - manuscript (differs from Black Sparrow book version) - circa 1992-1993
The Orderly - pg. 539
Sun Coming Down - pg. 540 - circa 1957
My Last Winter - pg. 543
Like A Dolphin - pg. 544
The Bluebird - pg. 545
If We Take - pg. 547 - circa 1972