Instead of selling a large collection of rare Charles Bukowski manuscripts, originals, and books for about $1 million, the LA poet's widow has donated the works to the hoity-toity Huntington Library in San Marino.
Linda Lee Bukowski told the LA Times that she thought her beer-drinking husband would have gotten a kick out of such a large chunk of his writing being housed in such a high-class joint.
"It's going to be scandalous. This would tickle my husband. It would crack him up," she said. Although Mrs. Bukowski lives in coastal San Pedro, she explains that she is a frequent visitor of the library located near Pasedena.
LAist wonders why the widow didn't choose the downtown LA library, which Bukowski frequented when he was down-and-out and struggling. Or why not a Hollywood branch near where he lived for many years?
One thing we do agree with Mrs. Bukowski about is that it will most likely be scandalous. Charles Bukowski had a gift for mixing the crude with the beautiful in a very subtle manner. Especially in his poems.
For an example of this, click for more... if you dare. (not safe for work)
"Like A Flower In The Rain"
I cut the middle fingernail of the middle
finger
right hand
real short
and I began rubbing along her cunt
as she sat upright in bed
spreading lotion over her arms
face
and breasts
after bathing.
then she lit a cigarette:
"don't let this put you off,"
an smoked and continued to rub
the lotion on.
I continued to rub the cunt.
"You want an apple?" I asked.
"sure, she said, "you got one?"
but I got to her-
she began to twist
then she rolled on her side,
she was getting wet and open
like a flower in the rain.
then she rolled on her stomach
and her most beautiful ass
looked up at me
and I reached under and got the
cunt again.
she reached around and got my
cock, she rolled and twisted,
I mounted
my face falling into the mass
of red hair that overflowed
from her head
and my flattened cock entered
into the miracle.
later we joked about the lotion
and the cigarette and the apple.
then I went out and got some chicken
and shrimp and french fries and buns
and mashed potatoes and gravy and
cole slaw,and we ate.she told me
how good she felt and I told her
how good I felt and we
ate the chicken and the shrimp and the
french fries and the buns and the
mashed potatoes and the gravy and
the cole slaw too.
- from Love is a Dog From Hell (1977)
