It was hot that night at the reading, which was to be held at St. Mark’s Church. Tammie and I sat in what was used as the dressing room. Tammie found a full-length mirror leaning agains...

nobody goes downtown anymore the plants and trees have been cut… Pershing Square the grass is brown and the street preachers are not a…

out of the arms of one love and into the arms of another I have been saved from dying on th… by a lady who smokes pot writes songs and stories,

I hear them outside: “does he always type this late?” “no, it’s very unusual.” “he shouldn’t type this

he was a good one say 18, 19, marine and every time woman came down the train aisle

is a highrise apt. next door and he beats her at night and she… and I see her the next day standing in the driveway with curl… and she has her huge buttocks jamm…

when I look back now at the abuse I took from her I feel shame that I was so innocent,

I get too many phone calls. they seek the creature out. they shouldn’t.

this is important enough: to get your feelings down, it is better than shaving or cooking beans with garlic. it is the little we can do

I sat in the airport and waited. You never knew about photos. You could never tell. I was nervous. I felt like vomiting. I lit a cigarette and gagged. Why did I do these things? I didn’...

and so we suck on a cigar and a beer attempting to mend the love

vain vanilla ladies strutting while van Gogh did it to himself. girls pulling on silk hose

When I awakened it was 1:30 pm. I took a bath, got dressed, checked the mail. A letter from a young man in Glendale. "Dear Mr. Chinaski: I am a young writer and I think that I am a good...

believe in earning one’s own way but I also believe in the unexpect… gift and it is a wondrous thing when a woman who has read your wor…