Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame

From 1944 -- 1955, Charles Bukowski (1920 -- 1994) lived the life of a wastrel, wandering from city to city, holding menial jobs, while spending most of his time drinking or fighting. Bukowski began writing poetry in earnest in about 1955, as he continued his life of drink, horseplaying, and sex, while gradually finding a voice for himself as a writer. In a poem called "we the artists", included in "Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame", Bukowski recalls these early years: "I keep thinking of myself young, then, the way I was,/ and I can hardly believe it but I don't mind it./ I hope the artists are still pround of me/but they never come back/again."

"Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame" (1974) is in part a compilation of several earlier Bukowski collections published as chapbooks in the years before Bukowski formed his relationship with John Martin and Black Sparrow Press. The poetry is unrhymed, in short free verse lines. It is largely but not entirely autobiographical as Bukowski explores his themes of death and suicide, drinking, womanizing, gambling, and finding meaning and redemption in life through art and poetry. Bukowski's early work tends to be more metaphorical and abstract than his later poetry.

The first part of the book, "It Captures my Heart in Its Hands" includes selections from a chapbook of that name published in 1963 with poetry written between 1955 and 1963. In addition to poems detailing Bukowski's experiences with women and the track, such as "to the whore who took my poems" and "a 340 dollar horse and a hundred dollar whore", it includes several poems about other people, including "for marilyn m." and "the life of borodin" as well as a meditative poem, "the singular self."

"Crucifix in a Deathhand" the second section of the book, likewise draws upon an early chapbook which included poems written between 1963 and 1965. In addition to the title poem, some of the writing in this collection shows Bukowski's compassion for the working poor, including the poem "the workers". The poem "a nice day" shows Bukowski trying to give meaning to the mundane, and the awful, events of daily life.

The third chapter of early poetry, "At Terror Street and Agony Way", (1065 -- 1968)includes, in addition to autobiographical poems, poems graphically describing the lives of outcasts and losers, including, "true story", "x-pug", and "he even looked like a nice guy".

The final collection in the book, "Burning in Water Drowning in Flame" Dates from 1972-1973. Bukowski, already attaining some recognition, had received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to write these poems. The poems "charles" and "my friend andre" are among those in which Bukowski offers portraits of other people. Some of the poems in this collection I enjoyed include "the sound of human lives" in which Bukowski observes " I don't know why people think effort and energy/have anything to do with/creation", "burned", which tells a story of rejection in a way unique to Bukowski, the philosophical "pull a string, a puppet moves" and "dreamlessly" which laments the lovelessness common to many people.

This is an excellent collection for those wishing to explore the early poetry of Charles Bukowski.

Robin Friedman

This is one of the best collections of poetry that I have ever read. I've recently discovered Bukowski after having one of my poems compared to his work. I did some research and a lot of people told me to start with this book. I am so glad that I did because it was a great introduction to Bukowski's work (and he does have a lot of work!) I am looking forward to reading my way through more of Bukowski's work in the near future.

These poems are full of humor, introspection, and managing to find inspiration in the smallest of things and occurances. Even though it may seem like some of the sentences are disjointed or out of place, every sentence is meant to be there and that is clearly visible when you reach the end of any poem in this collection. All of these poems seem to emanate with a jaded wisdom that one can't help but feel as if a lesson has been learned after reading each one.

My favorite poems in this collection that I recommend are "to the whore who took my poems", "for marilyn m.", and "i met a genius".

When I was first discovering the works of Charles Bukowski this book was a favorite; re-reading it again after many years I find it is still a very strong collection. This ranks up there with Love Is a Dog from Hell as some of his best work.

I was attracted to this specific book because it is the only compilation of poetry written by Bukowski while he lived in New Orleans. Perfect for road trips or for delving into after a long night of dirty bars and broken people,(elements ever -so present in New Orleans), I constantly find myself anxiously anticipating how the next page of booze drenched rants will blow my mind. Never has someone so accurately illustrated the whimsical life of an observant drunk amidst chaos,and Bukoski manages to not only find inspiration in it but relay it with such simplicity and sarcastic whit that you will find yourself re-acessing your definition of the word "Hero".
He forever reminds us that beauty hides in strange places and that even if you're not drinking while reading this book you can still taste the flames as you drown in thier presence.

This was my first stab at a Charles Bukowski work and it led me to go out and find out as much as I could about this gifted writer. "Some people" is perhaps the best poem ever, in my opinion. A must for any fan of honest writing.

I am as big a fan of Bukowski as any man on the planet, but I have to say that some of his early work is not very good. This collection is uneven; it starts with the early Bukowski trying to be literary and failing miserably, gradually it improves to the mature Bukowski finding his real voice. Towards the end he is his brilliant self, but it does take a while to get there. This is not his best work, but it contains a few gems that make it worth reading.

I've read several of Buk's books of short stories and poetry, and this is the earliest of Buk's work that I've read. I almost want to say "YUK!"
This book has more obvious attempts at style, metaphor... fancy stuff that I'm not used to Buk feeding me. I like his later stuff (e.g., Betting on the Muse; The Prettiest Woman in town).
The later stuff is unrelenting. Raw. That's the Buk I've some to love. Burning in Water Drowining in Flame gets distracting with its attempts at being fancy.

dope

One of my favorite Bukowski books. I continuously come back to his raw, honest words about life.

Buk proves here, yet again, that he is a completely unique artist with his thoughts and writings. A must read, and a book that all kids in high school should learn from, as opposed to the same old boring poets they always have to put up with.