The first time I tried to read Bukowski, sometime back in the 90s, I damn near hurled the book against the wall after the first two pages. Sloppy, I thought, absolutely sloppy work with little regard for syntax and as repetitive in theme as a merry-go-round.

But I returned to Bukowski a few years later via a thorough exploration of Kerouac and Burroughs; despite Bukowski’s repeated attempts throughout his life and career to separate himself from the Beats, the influence, the playfulness and the inventiveness with the language, the careful studies of lives lived on the margins, was and is undeniably there.

All these years later, I’m more than a little chagrined to find myself even marginally associated with Bukowski as a writer. First, of course, there was Mr. Bukowski’s Wild Ride which elicited high praise recently from writer Henry Baum at the Self-Publishing Review (a damn good writer himself), who called the book “another piece to add to (Bukowski’s) towering myth … it also gets to the soul of the man … as funny as any of Bukowski’s own writing.”

Now, I am proud to announce that I was asked to be a contributor to Buk Scene, Volume One from Jan Hallers’s and Jocelyne Desforges’s Purple Glow Press, a magazine-format effort promoting new poetry and essays on Charles Bukowski. Contributors include David Calonne, editor and curator of the new Bukowski collection, “Portions From a Wine-Stained Notebook” from City Lights Books (my essay-length review of Portions for Pop Matters can be found here), David Barker, Hosho McCreesh, and myself (on the dismal state of small press in America), as well as previously unpublished poetry by Linda King, Justin Hyde, Father Luke, and many, many more.

Buk Scene 1 is available in a limited edition of 252 copies, 200 numbered, 26 lettered and a special black and white edition of 26 numbered copies, 112 pages in a 8.5″ by 11″ layout.

Flat in the middle of the magazine is a 32 page feature on Bukowski contemporary and protege Steve Richmond, Gagaku Meat, written by Mike Daily.

The numbered edition is $15, the lettered edition $25 and the special black-and-white white edition is $17.

For ordering information, contact purpleglowpress at hotmail dot com.

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