The Captain is Out to Lunch

I can not believe that I hadn't read this until now. It has been sitting on my shelf for a couple of years, sandwiched between some of Buk's poetry, and I had a vague feeling that it was some slight novelty item chucked out posthumously and liable to set my teeth on edge. What it is in reality is the diary captured thoughts of an aging writer who can't stop noticing the vacuity and worthlessness of the lives lived around him. Regardless of the passing of time his eye is as keen as ever, regardless of his need for a cataract operation, and his rage is as pure as ever, even with the compensation of enough money for the first time in his life. As beautifully honest and simple as anything he ever wrote, a fitting coda for my favourite show more writer and poet.
Also, Robert Crumb's illustrations seem to grow organically from the page, a perfect marriage with the words. show less

E se anche...

Libro composto con pensieri di risulta, come un diario recuperato per poter metter su ancora un altro testo da pubblicare. Ah, gli editori, gli agenti... una volta che hai sfondato cercano di spremerti finchè ti resta una goccia di pensiero. Eppure non è riuscito a guastarmi il piacere, questo sporco comportamento. Bukowsky è sempre uno da ascoltare, una vita al di sopra, al di sotto, al di fuori di tutto e nonostante tutti. Fa immensamente bene, una persona come lui, al mondo che corre, che si dimentica di guardare il cielo di notte, che non ascolta più i battiti del cuore di chi gli sta accanto. Poesia della crudezza o poesia grazie alla crudezza, ma alle volte tanto ci vuole a scuotere anime addormentate o show more abbrutite. Qualsiasi forma abbia la vostra vita, un pò del Bukowsky di turno è necessario, sempre. show less

My only regret is that I have but five stars to give. This is a book about growing old as a writer, and it may not appeal to everyone--more than that, this is a book about growing old as Bukowski, and we all know he's not for everyone, either. But it is an intensely moving book; it changed me inside to read it, and made me that much more dedicated to my work.

Not Bukowski's best work, but that being said, it is some of his last work, and his grappling with mortality, and his loss of words is evident and quite poignant in a way. There is a lot about horse racing here, which is where he spent a lot of his time in his later years, but the reader should be looking between the lines for the true subject of this book - namely how he is dealing with his last years on earth, and his legacy.

I enjoyed every word in this. He often says a lot with few words GREAT

I'm sure Bukowski didn't intend this to get published. Just the musings of an old man, which can be fun at times, and inspiring at others. Mostly, it's just what Bukowski hates, and he's not alone.

Some late-night pondering from 1991-93. Bukowski’s short passages here are about life, writing, writing to classical music, death and the horse track. Some quotes:

“We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing.”

“I’m not crazy but I’m not sane either. No, maybe I’m crazy.”

“The whole world is a sack of shit ripping open. I can’t save it.”

“Being near death is energizing. I have all the advantages. I can see and feel things that are hidden from the young.”