The 5 Best Charles Bukowski Poetry Books

Charles Bukowski was a prolific poet who wrote a lot of poetry books in his time (there are over 60 currently in publication at the last count). In fact there are so many that it can be difficult for readers to sift through them and find the best Charles Bukowski poetry books. Unfortunately, due to the massive appeal of his work and the commercial success that goes with that, some of the material that has been published since his death hasn't been his best poetry (much of it being work that Bukowski himself considered to be unworthy of publication during his lifetime). The 5 books highlighted below give a positive spread of his work, from the raw poems of his early career, when he was struggling with relationships and money, to his later period, when he’d established himself as a professional writer and his life was less chaotic.

Described by Time magazine as a "laureate of American lowlife", Bukowski was a dislocated person, in many ways. An outsider from a young age and legendary drunk in adulthood, his favorite writing topics included relationships with women, alcohol, horse racing, and the drudgery of work. Despite the gritty subject matter, however, Bukowski’s best poetry is threaded through with a wry and insightful humor that never fails to amuse and inspire.

"If you are going to try, go all the way or don't even start. If you follow it you will be alive with the gods. It is the only good fight there is." Charles Bukowski

The best Bukowski poetry book in my opinion. He was near the end of his life and in a reflective mood when he wrote this. Many of the poems show him looking back to the bar life and dead end jobs of his youth with an old man’s perspective. His tone is beautifully understated and punctuated with humor. I bought it during a visit to New York and knew it was something special within five minutes of beginning to read. Includes some of his best poems, works such as “Dinosauria, We”, “Darkling”, and “The Soldier, The Wife And The Bum”.

Wonderful collection of Charles Bukowski’s early work, covering the period between 1955 and 1973. It was the first book of his poems that I owned and made me realize that modern free verse doesn’t have to be dry, pretentious, and obscure. Contains his Catullus-influenced poem, "to the whore who took my poems" which includes with the lines: "next time take my left arm or a fifty/ but not my poems:/ I'm not Shakespeare/ but sometime simply/ there won't be any more, abstract or otherwise;/ there'll always be money and whores and drunkards..."  If you want to read his early work, this is the best Bukowski poetry book.

Written not long after he’d “made it” with musings about his new found comfortable life in San Pedro, as well as material concerning his earlier, more troubled times in East Hollywood, Los Angeles. Some wonderfully witty writing in here with poems about mortgages and tax accountants, as well as the standard fare of race tracks, classical music, and bad sex.  One of the best Bukowski poetry books from his mid-period.

Top drawer book, containing poems from the mid to late 1970s. Charles Bukowski had given up his job at the Post Office by this point and begun to experience the first benefits of his growing fame. Includes the poignant poem about his ex-lover, "one for old snaggletooth", which includes the lines: "she has hurt fewer people/than anyone I know,/and if you look at it like that,/well,/she has created a better world/she has won."

Despite his chaotic lifestyle and heavy drinking, Bukowski possessed a tremendous creative energy throughout his life and this book is a testament to that. As its title suggests, this book was written at the age of seventy, but none of his verve has gone. In fact he produced some of his best poetry in his later years.  Three years after this book was published, after completing his experimental novel, “Pulp”, Bukowski would die from leukemia. Written on his Gravestone were inscribed the words: “Don’t Try”, a phrase from one of his poems.

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