Mockingbird Wish Me Luck

“The Walt Whitman of Los Angeles.”—Joyce Carol Oates, bestselling author

“He brought everybody down to earth, even the angels.”—Leonard Cohen, songwriter

Mockingbird Wish Me Luck captures glimpses of Charles Bukowski's view on life through his poignant poetry: the pain, the hate, the love, and the beauty. He writes of lechery and pain while finding still being able to find its beauty.

This is the gutter and the stars, seen through the bottom of a glass.

Gritty Realism: From skid row bars to racetrack losses and fistfights in cheap rooms, Bukowski documents the lives of the forgotten with unflinching honesty. The Los Angeles Laureate: Dubbed "the Walt Whitman of Los Angeles," he captures the city’s sun-bleached despair and fleeting moments of grace like no one else. A Singular Voice: Direct, conversational, and stripped of pretense, these poems brought everybody "down to earth, even the angels," influencing a generation of writers. Beauty in the Ugly: A clear-eyed look at the human condition that explores the depths of lechery and pain while finding moments of unexpected tenderness.