PBA Galleries

11x8½. Typed manuscript poem, The Loser [by Charles Bukowski], 15 lines, with Bukowski’s 1623 N. Mariposa Ave. address on top and a red ink check mark below, as submitted to the editor / publisher of The Sparrow Magazine, circa late 1959, early 1960.

Also with: Sparrow 14. 32 pp. Edited by Felix Stefanile. 7¼x5, original saddle stitched gray wrappers printed in black. [The Sparrow Magazine, Vagrom Chap Books], November 1960. Signed by Bukowski on page 13. Dorbin C68. * A typed letter signed by Stefanile addressed to noted Bukowski bibliographer / expert Al Fogel, dated June 25, 1982 on Sparrow Press letterhead, attesting to the authenticity of the original poem: “Please let this letter stand as my attestation to you that the typescript copy of the Bukowski poem ‘The Losers’ is an authentic manuscript, as originally submitted to me some time in late 1959 or early 1960. My legal signature is below…Your Bukowski collection sounds fantastic…” signed in blue ink Felix Stefanile. * A typed postcard signed by Bukowski, addressed to Stefanile, Sparrow Press, NY, postmarked Sep. 16, 1960 from Los Angeles and reads: “Dear Felix Stefanile: No, ‘no bookworm or sissy’ am I… Your criticism correct: poem submitted was loose, sloppy, repetitive, but here’s the kernel: I cannot WORK at a poem. Too many poets work too consciously at their stuff and when you see their work in print, they seem to be saying …see here, old man, just look at this POEM. I might even say that a poem should not be a poem, but more a chunk of something that happens to come out right. I do not believe in technique or schools or sissies… I believe in grasping at the curtains like a drunken monk… and tearing them down, down, down… I hope to submit to you again, and believe me, I far more appreciate criticism than ‘sorry’ or ‘no’ or ‘overstocked’. Truly, Charles (signed), Charles Bukowski.”