I Discovered Charles Bukowski in 1984

Bukowski was a legend in his time . . . a madman, a recluse, a lover . . . tender, vicious . . . never the same . . . these are exceptional stories that come pounding out of his violent and depraved life . . . horrible and holy, you cannot read them and ever come away the same again.

Born, Heinrich Karl Bukowski on August 16, 1920. Bukowski was a poet, novelist and short story writer. His stories were set mostly in Los Angeles; "You live in a town all your life, and you get to know every b____ on the street corner and half of them you have already messed around with. You've got the layout of the whole land. You have a picture of where you are.... Since I was raised in L.A., I've always had the geographical and spiritual feeling of being here. I've had time to learn this city. I can't see any other place than L.A.".

In the 1980s he collaborated with illustrator Robert Crumb on a series of comic books, with Bukowski supplying the writing and Crumb providing the artwork.
Bukowski performed live readings of his works, beginning in 1962 on radio station KPFK in Los Angeles. Drinking was often a featured part of the readings, along with a combative banter with the audience.
In 1986 Time called Bukowski a "laureate of American lowlife". Bukowski's mad thoughts focused on ordinary bulls--t, the drunks, the taverns, the racetrack, the scum, sex, the act of writing, more alcohol, women who crossed his path, Angels, B-----es, fistfights, booze, dirty relationships, flea bags and the drudgery of work. Bukowski wrote thousands of poems, hundreds of short stories and six novels and had over 60 books in print.
Henry Charles Bukowski died of leukemia on March 9, 1994, in San Pedro, California, at the age of 73.

July 22, 1944, Bukowski was arrested by FBI agents in Philadelphia, where he was living at the time, on suspicion of World War II draft evasion. He was held for 17 days in Philadelphia's Moyamensing Prison. Sixteen days later he failed a psychological exam that was part of his mandatory military entrance "physical" and was given a 4-F Classification, unfit for military service.