(the whole world is at the throat of the world, everybody feels angry, short-changed, cheated, everybody is despondent, disillusioned.) I welcomed shots of peace, tattered shards of happiness.

This play was a one-off performance. I've always had the geographical and spiritual feeling of being here. He was then 49 years old.

In 1986 Time called Bukowski a "laureate of American lowlife". His writing was influenced by the social cultural and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles. [is that] he combines the confessional poet's promise of intimacy with the larger-than-life aplomb of a pulp-fiction hero.