Cold Dogs in the Courtyard (Inscribed to a poet)
- SIGNED
- Chicago: Literary Times & Cyfoeth Press, 1965
Chicago: Literary Times & Cyfoeth Press, 1965. First edition. Near Fine. One of five hundred copies of the first edition, this copy inscribed on the title-page by Charles Bukowski to poet Jack Grapes. Cover design by Betsy Milam. A Near Fine copy with just a bit of toning to the spine.
This chapbook compiles thirteen of Charles Bukowski's poems that had been previously rejected by literary magazines and book publishers. In his "Foreward" [sic], Bukowski writes, "The poems in this book...have been overlooked (or looked-over and shunned) by those people who, for reasons unknown to society, publish collections of poesy. This, I hope, will be the sixth gathering of my work since I began writing at the cobby age of 35, a sad long 9 years back, and these are the poems the editors didn't want for the earlier books...I went through the magazines looking for turned-away poems. I found 20 poems I wish I had never written, 20 I didn't give a damn about one way or the other. The others you will find in here."
Jack Grapes is a Los Angeles poet, publisher, and former editor of the poetry journal ONTHEBUS (1989-2017). Notably, Grapes' poems appeared alongside Charles Bukowski's in an issue of the short-lived but influential Loujon Press literary journal The Outsider (1960-1969). Bukowski also corresponded with Grapes and inscribed several books to him. In the spring of 1965, Grapes, then a young poet with a burgeoning career, wrote to Bukowski to share his chapbook This Thing Upon Me (titled from the first line of Bukowski's poem "Old Man, Dead in a Room") and to ask for advice from the more experienced writer. In Bukowski's response, he praised Grapes' poetry chapbook ("the first 4 lines of poem 10 are as good as anybody can write") and added, "Well if you want advice from an old man - the writing comes out of the living and if you've got to sell-out to stay alive, sell as little as possible, save what you can. it's when you give it all up to them that you are dead. don't be in a hurry to make it. it's more important to sit around in the sunlight or sleep. it will come along if you let it...I am honored, of course, that you 'stole' the title THIS THING UPON ME, and hope that you find some poems in CRUCIFIX. I have signed some pages, one of them to you, must get them in the mail so the people can get their books. It seems so strange to be signing pages. is this the way it happens? your turn now. hail, Buk"
Krumhansl 16. Near Fine.
This chapbook compiles thirteen of Charles Bukowski's poems that had been previously rejected by literary magazines and book publishers. In his "Foreward" [sic], Bukowski writes, "The poems in this book...have been overlooked (or looked-over and shunned) by those people who, for reasons unknown to society, publish collections of poesy. This, I hope, will be the sixth gathering of my work since I began writing at the cobby age of 35, a sad long 9 years back, and these are the poems the editors didn't want for the earlier books...I went through the magazines looking for turned-away poems. I found 20 poems I wish I had never written, 20 I didn't give a damn about one way or the other. The others you will find in here."
Jack Grapes is a Los Angeles poet, publisher, and former editor of the poetry journal ONTHEBUS (1989-2017). Notably, Grapes' poems appeared alongside Charles Bukowski's in an issue of the short-lived but influential Loujon Press literary journal The Outsider (1960-1969). Bukowski also corresponded with Grapes and inscribed several books to him. In the spring of 1965, Grapes, then a young poet with a burgeoning career, wrote to Bukowski to share his chapbook This Thing Upon Me (titled from the first line of Bukowski's poem "Old Man, Dead in a Room") and to ask for advice from the more experienced writer. In Bukowski's response, he praised Grapes' poetry chapbook ("the first 4 lines of poem 10 are as good as anybody can write") and added, "Well if you want advice from an old man - the writing comes out of the living and if you've got to sell-out to stay alive, sell as little as possible, save what you can. it's when you give it all up to them that you are dead. don't be in a hurry to make it. it's more important to sit around in the sunlight or sleep. it will come along if you let it...I am honored, of course, that you 'stole' the title THIS THING UPON ME, and hope that you find some poems in CRUCIFIX. I have signed some pages, one of them to you, must get them in the mail so the people can get their books. It seems so strange to be signing pages. is this the way it happens? your turn now. hail, Buk"
Krumhansl 16. Near Fine.