The Roominghouse Madrigals

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

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

The Roominghouse Madrigals is a selection of poetry from Charles Bukowski's early work. It shows a slightly softer side to the beloved barfly.

Drawn from his raw, prolific period between 1946 and 1966, this is the early work of a cult classic author in the making.
Dirty Realism: Find Bukowski in the cheap rooming houses, factories, and bars of a forgotten Los Angeles, writing with unflinching honesty about the grit of survival.Confessional Poetry: Raw, first-person accounts of love, liquor, loneliness, and the defiant struggle to create art against all odds.Raw and Unfiltered Verse: Written on first impulse with no revisions, these poems capture the immediate, explosive energy that would become his signature style.The Softer Side of the Barfly: Before the legend, there was the lyricism. Discover a more vulnerable, reflective current in the work that established the "Walt Whitman of Los Angeles."