“I was a man who thrived on solitude; without it I was like another man without food or water. Each day without solitude weakened me. I took no pride in my solitude; but I was dependent on it. The darkness of the room was like sunlight to me.”
— Charles Bukowski
(quote courtesy of Newington Blue Press)
Photo credit: Artgal73, CC BY 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons
I got some more good news today as well — Newington Blue Press has returned after a hiatus, and will release the third volume of Buk 100, its commemorative chapbook series honoring Charles Bukowski! It will include a new flash fiction story of mine, entitled “Bill and I.”
I’ll post details and ordering information when they become available.
There’s a terrific review of Buk 100: Notes for a Dirty Old Birthday in the latest issue of Beat Scene magazine. (Notes for a Dirty Old Birthday is the second volume of Newington Blue Press’ Buk 100 series of limited edition chapbooks. They are dedicated to Charles Bukowski, and all three of the chapbooks include contributions from me.)
Congratulations to Editors Matthias Kruger and Rebecca McLeish for seeing their handiwork so favorably received by this long running British magazine dedicated to beat culture!
Airmail from Germany!
I am honored to see a poem and a photograph of mine published in Buk 100: Notes for a Dirty Old Birthday! Like the first volume of Buk 100, Newington Blue Press created this second limited edition chapbook to honor what would have been legendary poet Charles Bukowski’s 100th birthday. (You can order your copy right here.)
The short poem is entitled “Ode to a New Black Ball-Point Pen” and the photo appears just below it. (I think my fellow Roanokers will recognize Shaffer’s Crossing Norfolk Southern Railway Bridge.)
Thanks again to Matthias Krueger for selecting my work for this superb recognition of Bukowski’s legacy!
I received my copy of “Buk 100: My Old Man, A Birthday Greeting” today, and it looks damned terrific! This is truly a first-rate chapbook that is professionally produced and filled with poetry and photography that would make Charles Bukowski proud. It looks beautiful. You can order your own copy right here to see for yourself, but you might want to hurry — this is a limited edition run of 100 copies, and they’re already half gone. (My copy is #44.)
Thank you again, Newington Blue Press, for allowing me to be a part of such a well crafted commemorative tribute to a legendary poet! It is an honor to see my poetry included here.
Now’s the time to order your copy of Buk 100: My Old Man, A Birthday Greeting. Click right here for Newington Blue Press’ limited edition chapbook. Only 100 copies will be printed in this initial run, which celebrates what would have been Charles Bukowski’s 100th birthday.
When you read it, be sure take a gander at two poems of mine: “First Smoke” and “Guerrilla Poet.” (The latter piece is an homage to my good friend and colleague in the writing world, poet Dennis Villelmi.)
I hope you guys are looking forward to a great weekend! No matter what you’ve got planned, remember Buk’s advice — “what matters most is how well you walk through the fire.”
By Commonurbock23 – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4030361
I have some really damned cool news, guys — two poems of mine will be featured in an upcoming limited-edition chapbook in Europe commemorating what would have been the 100th birthday of Charles Bukowski! Newington Blue Press announced today that it will release 100 Years of Bukowski (100 Jahre Bukowski) next week.
The chapbook will be 68 pages long, and this initial run will consist of just 100 numbered copies. Its featured writing and art were selected to showcase “a conversance and artistic involvement with the phenomenon of Bukowski.” The poems of mine to be included are “Guerrilla Poet” and “First Smoke.” I am grateful indeed to Newington Blue Press for allowing me to be a part of such a unique publication.
You can pre-order an advance copy of the chapbook via the publisher right here.
Newington Blue Press is based in Germany and the United Kingdom.
Photo credit: GFreihalter / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 