English professor reliving Bukowski
- Monthly series focuses on non-traditional literature
- OCCC Professor, David Charlson, did his doctoral dissertation over Bukowski
Charles Bukowski
By Andrea Reichert, News Writing Student
Twentieth Century American poet Charles Bukowski is under recognized and under respected in his native land, said David Charlson, OCCC English professor.
Bukowski is widely read in Europe but almost unheard of in the United States, he said.
About 30 people recently attended a new series called the Writer’s Voice in room 3E2 in the Arts and Humanities building. It is a discussion about non-traditional literature, said Amy Wilson, OCCC English professor, who is organizing the monthly series.
Charlson did his doctoral dissertation over Bukowski. The Library has a copy of the biography written by Charlson. The book is entitled “Charles Bukowski: Autobiographer, Gender Critic, Iconoclast.”
“It was time someone published a book over him in the United States,” Charlson said.
Bukowski is for a mature audience, because of his crude language.
“What really launched Bukowski’s career is his ‘Notes of a Dirty Old Man’ weekly column in the Los Angeles Free Press” Charlson said.
In a poem Bukowski comments that he tries to be as confrontational as possible to gain attention.
“Politics are like screwing a cat,” Bukowski said about his view of politics.
Charlson showed Bukowski’s tender side in a poem about his cat.
Bukowski wrote about his cat, which gets ran over and survives with his shattered back.
The very first line in the poem is: “It came to the door one night wet and thin, beaten, terrorized, white, cross eyed, tailless cat.
“The cat grew to trust me until a friend drove up and ran over him.”
After that Bukowski takes the cat to a vet with not a lot of hope, then brings him back home and nurtures him back to health.
The poet communicates with his cat throughout his pain and suffering. The cat tries to stand up and falls but Bukowski encourages the cat to get back up and try again. Eventually the cat overcomes the pain, gets better and lives.
Even though Bukowski uses coarse language and curse words in his poems, he reveals a soft and caring heart for his beloved cat.
Charlson said when he was teaching in Kansas, he taught Bukowski in some of his classes. Students would read some of Bukowski’s books and some students would comment on them.
“This is the first book I have ever finished early” or “this is first book I ever finished,” were some remarks from the students.
In the short film about Bukowski that was shown at the Writer’s Voice Bukowswki said, “The cancer is spreading all over Europe and now I’m supposed to be famous everywhere but here.”
The Writer’s Voice plans to have readings of Vietnamese poetry at noon Wednesday, Oct. 24. For more information, contact Wilson at 405-682-1611, ext. 7624.
