You get so alone at times that it just makes sense

``You're a bum , he told me/ and you'll always be a bum . . . and it's too bad he's been dead/ so long/ for now he can't see/ how beautifully I've succeeded/ at/ that.'' True to his words, this prolific poet loves to play the oversexed bum, continually lashing out at other writers, the rich, and anyone who fails to appreciate his brilliance. This collection takes a new turn, though, as Bukowskinow in his sixtieslooks back on some tender memories of youth. Other redeeming features include a self-mocking humor and a love for cats. For larger collections, and those whose readers are not easily offended by four-letter words. Rochelle Ratner, formerly Poetry Editor, ``Soho Weekly News,'' New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

listening to Wagner as outside in the dark the wind blows a cold rain the trees wave and shake lights go off and on the walls creak and the cats run under the bed . . . Wagner battles the agonies, he's emotional but solid, he's the supreme fighter, a giant in a world of pygmies, he takes it straight on through, he breaks barriers an astonishing FORCE of sound as everything here shakes shivers bends blasts in fierce gamble yes, Wagner and the storm intermix with the wine as nights like this run up my wrists and up into my head and back down into the gut some men never die and some men never live but we're all alive tonight. (Continues...) Excerpted from You Get So Alone at Times by Charles Bukowski Copyright © 2003 by Charles Bukowski Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.