Come On In! by Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski's working methods had the same boozy directness as his poetry. With classical music playing in the background, he would drink heavily and type, sometimes cranking out several free-verse poems in an evening. Quality control was non-existent, but the sheer amount of time spent writing allowed him to develop a uniquely engaging voice, which mixes bar-room pugnacity with comic irony, tenderness and the quiet pride of a loser made good. Come On In! is a selection from Bukowski's unpublished poetry made by his long-time publisher and mentor John Martin. On this evidence, there's no-one better placed than Martin to sift through Bukowski's prodigious and inconsistent output - the quality of the poems found here in Canongate's good-looking paperback is a credit to his ability as editor. Even though Bukowski seems here to be past the brawling and the sex of earlier collections (no dates of composition are given, but the themes of the collection - impending death, fame, his own legacy as a poet - suggest these are late works), the poems are still defiantly unrefined, funny and wise. Come On In! is mainly for fans, but for those readers who aren't familiar with his work, it's a pretty good place to start too. [Michael Gallagher]