Bukowski === the anti-poet. I have all of his works...every volume. He pissed me off the first time I read him...but then I realized, his unique view of life was as much pointed at the mirror as it was at others in his corner of the world. His failure as a good mate is reflected in the animosity he points at the women that cross his path. He is a boar at times. Crude, irreverent, dickish, and cold. He is also great at capturing the life that he lived in and was surrounded by..... and he could be as eloquent as he was crass. I am better for having read his works. In the end, I pitied him because his world was one dank, dark place.