Charles Bukowski poem and story database

The Roominghouse Madrigals

Published in 1988 by Black Sparrow Press

22,000 Dollars In 3 Months - pg. 13 - circa 1962
On Seeing An Old Civil War Painting With My Love - pg. 15 - circa 1958
What To Do With Contributor's Copies? - pg. 17
Brave Bull - pg. 19
It's Not Who Lived Here - pg. 21
O, We Are The Outcasts, O We Burn In Wondrous Flame! - pg. 22 - circa 1966
Poem For My 43rd Birthday - pg. 30 - circa 1963
The Genius Of The Crowd - pg. 31 - 1966
4:30 A.M. - pg. 34 - circa 1964
The Simplicity Of Everything In Viet Nam - pg. 36
The Night They Took Whitey - pg. 37 - circa 1964
The Japanese Wife - pg. 39 - circa 1960
Sundays Kill More Men Than Bombs - pg. 41 - circa 1961
The Loser - pg. 43 - circa 1960
On A Night You Don't Sleep - pg. 44 - circa 1957
An Empire Of Coins - pg. 45
All I Know - pg. 48 - circa 1960
On Going Back To The Street After Viewing An Art Show - pg. 49 - circa 1961
Anthony - pg. 50 - circa 1960
Layover - pg. 51 - circa 1956
The Dogs Of Egypt - pg. 52
Old Man, Dead In A Room - pg. 53 - circa 1961
Love Is A Piece Of Paper Torn To Bits - pg. 55 - circa 1959
Big Bastard With A Sword - pg. 56
About My Very Tortured Friend, Peter - pg. 59
Not Quite So Soon - pg. 62 - circa 1959
Counsel - pg. 63 - circa 1962
I Wait In The White Rain - pg. 65 - circa 1969
Breakout - pg. 67
I Cannot Stand Tears - pg. 69 - circa 1958
Horse On Fire - pg. 70 - circa 1960
Mother And Son - pg. 71 - circa 1965
The Day I Kicked Away A Bankroll - pg. 73
The Dogs - pg. 76
Imbecile Night - pg. 77 - circa 1962
A Kind Of Lecture On A Dull Day When There Isn't Even A Fly Around To Kill - pg. 79 - circa 1966
The Gift - pg. 80 - circa 1961
Object Lesson - pg. 82 - circa 1946
Eat - pg. 84
Goldfish - pg. 84 - circa 1961
Sleep - pg. 85
Hello, Willie Shoemaker - pg. 86 - circa 1960
The Literary Life - pg. 88
Countryside - pg. 90 - circa 1965
Death Wants More Death - pg. 92 - circa 1957
10 Lions And The End Of The World - pg. 96 - circa 1958
The Blackbirds Are Rough Today - pg. 97
A Word On The Quick And Modern Poem-Makers - pg. 99 - circa 1961
Seahorse - pg. 100 - circa 1965
I Have Lived In England - pg. 101 - circa 1961
Farewell, Foolish Objects - pg. 102 - circa 1964
A Report Upon The Consumption Of Myself - pg. 105 - circa 1964
Fleg - pg. 107 - circa 1964
Interviewed By A Guggenheim Recipient - pg. 110
Very - pg. 112 - circa 1961
The Look - pg. 114 - circa 1951
One Night Stand - pg. 115 - 1961
Poem To A Most Affectionate Lady - pg. 116
Parts Of An Opera, Parts Of A Guitar, Parts Of Nowhere - pg. 118
Letter From The North - pg. 120 - circa 1960
The Best Way To Get Famous Is To Run Away - pg. 121 - circa 1961
The Kings Are Gone - pg. 123 - circa 1961
Reprieve And Admixture - pg. 124
The Swans Walk My Brain In April It Rains - pg. 125 - circa 1965
The End - pg. 127 - circa 1963
A Farewell Thing While Breathing - pg. 128 - circa 1969
Sad-Eyed Mules Of Men - pg. 129 - circa 1965
Dear Friend - pg. 130
A Conversation on Morality, Eternity and Copulation - pg. 132 - circa 1966
Soiree - pg. 134 - circa 1959
Notations From A Muddled Indolence - pg. 135
Nothing Subtle - pg. 137 - circa 1961
I Don't Need A Bedsheet With Slits For Eyes To Kill You In - pg. 138
86'D - pg. 139 - circa 1965
The Ants - pg. 141 - circa 1961
Suicide - pg. 143 - circa 1961
3:30 A.M. Conversation - pg. 145 - circa 1961
Cows In Art Class - pg. 147
Practice - pg. 150
I Kneel - pg. 154 - circa 1965
Freedom: The Unmolested Eagle Of Myself - pg. 155
Singing Is Fire - pg. 156
The Sun Wields Mercy - pg. 158 - circa 1960
On The Failure Of A Poet - pg. 161
The Beast - pg. 163 - 1970
A Rat Rises - pg. 165 - circa 1962
Pansies - pg. 166 - circa 1965
The Man With The Hot Nose - pg. 167
Hangover And Sick Leave - pg. 169
Mercy, Wherever You Are, Come Running In To Grab Me In Your Good Arms - pg. 170
It's Nothing To Laugh About - pg. 172 - circa 1960
35 Seconds - pg. 174
Regard Me - pg. 176 - circa 1959
With Vengeance Like A Tiger Crawls - pg. 177 - circa 1961
Itch, Come And Gone - pg. 179 - circa 1965
This - pg. 180 - circa 1965
2 Outside, As Bones Break In My Kitchen - pg. 181 - circa 1962
Saying Goodbye To Love - pg. 182 - circa 1961
You Smoke A Cigarette - pg. 183 - circa 1956
Friendly Advice To A Lot Of Young Men - pg. 184
Everything - pg. 185 - circa 1964
American Express, Athens, Greece - pg. 187
One Hundred And Ninety-Nine Pounds Of Clay Leaning Forward - pg. 189
I Write This Upon The Last Drink's Hammer - pg. 191 - circa 1969
Poem For Liz - pg. 195 - circa 1961
A Nice Place - pg. 197 - circa 1966
Insomnia - pg. 198 - circa 1964
Wrong Number - pg. 199 - circa 1960
When The Berry Bush Dies I'll Swim Down The Green River With My Hair On Fire - pg. 200 - circa 1965
Face While Shaving - pg. 202 - circa 1961
9 Rings - pg. 203 - circa 1962
Somebody Always Breaking My Dainty Solitude - pg. 204
Thank God For Alleys - pg. 206
The Millionaire - pg. 207
Dow Jones: Down - pg. 209 - circa 1959
As I Lay Dying - pg. 210
A Minor Impulse To Complain - pg. 211 - circa 1961
Buffalo Bill - pg. 213
Experience - pg. 215 - circa 1963
I Am Visited By An Editor And A Poet - pg. 217 - circa 1961
The Mexican Girls - pg. 219
The New Place - pg. 221
Conversation In A Cheap Room - pg. 224 - circa 1960
I Was Born To Hustle Roses Down The Avenues Of The Dead - pg. 226 - circa 1964
Winter Comes In A Lot Of Places In August - pg. 228 - circa 1959
Bring Down The Beams - pg. 229 - circa 1959
Reunion - pg. 231
Fragile - pg. 233 - circa 1964
I Am With The Roots Of Flowers - pg. 236 - circa 1961
Monday Beach, Cold Day - pg. 238 - circa 1961
The High-Rise Of The New World - pg. 240 - circa 1965
The Gypsies Near Del Mar - pg. 242 - circa 1958
6 A.M. - pg. 243 - circa 1964
A Trick To Dull Our Bleeding - pg. 245 - circa 1964
Rose, Rose - pg. 247 - circa 1961
Spain Sits Like A Hidden Flower In My Coffeepot - pg. 249 - circa 1965
Thermometer - pg. 252
Eaten By Butterflies - pg. 254 - circa 1965
Destroying Beauty - pg. 256