The Roominghouse Madrigals

July 1, 1988
These poems, gathered from the prolific poet's early, out-of-print, and now scarce pamphlets, come on the heels of his screenplay success, Barfly . In the poet's opinion, "The early poems are more lyrical," but readers may find it hard to spot much diversity in Bukowski's 40 years' output; his work, whether poetry, fiction, or drama, has remained thematically stagnant. The language is a bit less ostentatious than in later work, permitting a gentle and often self-mocking humor to emerge: "if I am a fly I'll never know/ what a lion really is." Other poems reveal an innate sensitivity to people, especially women, which Bukowski has apparently attempted to mask in more recent work. Rochelle Ratner, formerly Poetry Editor, "Soho Weekly News," N.Y.

Copyright 1988 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.