At Terror Street and Agony Way
Charles Bukowski
At Terror Street and Agony Way
Published the same year — the first Black Sparrow book, the beginning of the consolidation this chapbook predates.
Read our takePoems Written Before Jumping Out of an 8 Story Window
Charles Bukowski
Poems Written Before Jumping Out of an 8 Story Window
A 400-copy Glendale chapbook of eighteen poems — four of which have never been reprinted anywhere since.
- 1968
- Savage
- Wry
- Melancholy
- spare
- autobiographical
- voice-driven
- dark
About Charles Bukowski
The story, briefly
Spoiler-freePoems Written Before Jumping Out of an 8 Story Window is a chapbook of eighteen Charles Bukowski poems published in Glendale, California in 1968, in an edition of 400 copies. Its imprint is recorded under two names — Poetry X/Change and Litmus, the operation of the poet Charles Potts, who had printed Bukowski in Litmus magazine. The project had a long fuse: it was first planned in 1965 with the Blitz/Mad Virgin Press and stalled for three years before Potts brought it out. Four of its eighteen poems have never been collected again, which gives the little book a standing the other 1960s chapbooks lack: it still holds work a reader cannot find anywhere else.
The story, in more detail
The chapbook sits in the last year before Black Sparrow Press consolidated Bukowski's publishing. Until 1968 his books were a scatter of small operations — Hearse, Loujon, and one-off imprints like this one — and the contents scattered with them. Most of it was later swept into the Black Sparrow collections; this book's four uncollected poems are the notable leak. A printed drawing for the poem "Cows in Art Class" runs as the chapbook's centerfold, and the title has become one of the most quoted in the catalogue — an early example of the deadpan-catastrophe naming that Play the Piano Drunk later perfected.
Why we recommend it
The uncollected four
The rare case of a 1960s chapbook whose contents were never fully absorbed into the later collections.
The title as artifact
One of the most quoted Bukowski titles — the deadpan-catastrophe naming style, already fully formed in 1968.
What this book explores
Timeline
1965
The chapbook is planned with the Blitz/Mad Virgin Press; the project stalls.
1968
Published in Glendale in 400 copies under the Litmus / Poetry X/Change imprint.
Book editions
Paperback
- Paperback
- Litmus / Poetry X/Change
- 1968
Reader reviews
Readers may also like
The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills
Charles Bukowski
The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills
The major collection of the following year, where the era's poems mostly settled.
Read our takeBurning in Water, Drowning in Flame
Charles Bukowski
Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame
The in-print selected volume for the period — though this chapbook's four uncollected poems are not in it.
Read our takePoems Written Before Jumping Out of an 8 Story Window: frequently asked questions
What is Poems Written Before Jumping Out of an 8 Story Window?
A chapbook of eighteen Charles Bukowski poems, published in Glendale, California in 1968 in an edition of 400 copies.
Who published it?
The imprint is recorded under two names — Poetry X/Change and Litmus, the operation of the poet Charles Potts, who had printed Bukowski in Litmus magazine. The project had been planned since 1965 with a different press and stalled for three years.
Why does it matter more than the other 1960s chapbooks?
Four of its eighteen poems have never been reprinted anywhere. Most chapbook contents were later absorbed into the Black Sparrow collections; these four were not.
Is the title a joke?
It is Bukowski's deadpan register — catastrophe stated as routine. The title became one of his most quoted, well beyond readers of the chapbook itself.
Can I read it today?
Only via the rare-book market or library special collections. It has never been reprinted, and its four uncollected poems exist nowhere else.
If you like Charles Bukowski
Explore authors with a similar voice, perspective, and influence.
Louis-Ferdinand Céline
The doctor of the Paris slums who wrote the century's blackest, funniest novel — and changed the sound of French prose.
View author
Simone de Beauvoir
French writer and philosopher whose novels, memoirs, and social analysis examined freedom, gender, responsibility, aging, and the material conditions that shape a life.
View author
Ernest Hemingway
Author of The Sun Also Rises and A Moveable Feast; his pared-down style, developed in 1920s Paris, became the most imitated in American prose.
View author
References
References
The sources below include the primary text, editions, scholarship, archival materials, and other records that informed this page. They document Poems Written Before Jumping Out of an 8 Story Window, its publication, and its place in literary history.
1Poems Written Before Jumping Out of an 8 Story Window
PoetryCharles Bukowski, 1968Used forThe primary text represented by this page, used for descriptions of the work’s contents and for any quoted passages shown here.
2Charles Bukowski Papers (Huntington Library catalogue)
ArchiveUsed forThe Bukowski papers, which hold manuscripts from the scattered small-press years.
3Charles Bukowski timeline (bukowski.net)
WebsiteUsed forPublication history, the 1965 stall, the print run, and the four uncollected poems.
4Charles Bukowski: books and chapbooks (Verdant Press checklist)
WebsiteUsed forBibliographic details of the chapbook checked against the checklist.
5Charles Bukowski (Poetry Foundation)
WebsiteUsed forThe scattered small-press years before Black Sparrow consolidated the publishing.
i
Why these sources are here
The primary text is the baseline reference for every book page. Additional references document publication history, interpretation, and historical context where that evidence is available.
Explore more resources