Peter Lewin
Bukowski & Dad
The more I read about Charles Bukowski,
the more I think about my old feller.
The horses, his cigars, the blondes.
His morning eggs, boiled and fried,
and his attitude mainly.
Saturday was a big day for racing.
"Get the fuck out of here son,
don't you know it's Saturday!"
Born three years before Bukowski,
so he came from the same era -
his friends used to say
"It's a wonder he doesn't grow
a horse's ears and tail,
he spends so much time at the races."
He could fight too, he told me
he loved the pain, the harder
they hit you boy the harder
you hit 'em back;
you can cry afterwards
as long as they don't see you.
He fought in the sawdust rings
for halfcrowns when he was fifteen;
fought blacksmiths and out of work men.
Trained at the gymnasium off Ibbetson Street
in Blackpool. He was 6ft 4inches tall
a skinny kid but fast as a Cobra! Yes
I can see them now, Bukowski & Dad
studying the form, sluggin' a fifth of whisky,
weighing up a good piece of ass!
the more I think about my old feller.
The horses, his cigars, the blondes.
His morning eggs, boiled and fried,
and his attitude mainly.
Saturday was a big day for racing.
"Get the fuck out of here son,
don't you know it's Saturday!"
Born three years before Bukowski,
so he came from the same era -
his friends used to say
"It's a wonder he doesn't grow
a horse's ears and tail,
he spends so much time at the races."
He could fight too, he told me
he loved the pain, the harder
they hit you boy the harder
you hit 'em back;
you can cry afterwards
as long as they don't see you.
He fought in the sawdust rings
for halfcrowns when he was fifteen;
fought blacksmiths and out of work men.
Trained at the gymnasium off Ibbetson Street
in Blackpool. He was 6ft 4inches tall
a skinny kid but fast as a Cobra! Yes
I can see them now, Bukowski & Dad
studying the form, sluggin' a fifth of whisky,
weighing up a good piece of ass!
magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The