Charles Bukowski inspired Cherie Dimoline’s A Gentle Habit, a collection of short stories that explore addiction in it’s many forms, and our second ALU Book Club pick. He also inspired Daniel Jones to write the collection  The Brave Never Write Poetry (Coach House Books), filled with confrontational poems about sex and boredom, drugs and suicide that document Jones’ depressive, alcoholic years as an enfant terrible.

By the time Buk wrote “in between the punctuating agonies life is such a gentle habit" in War All the Time, he had eschewed hard liquor for red wine. As a toast to Buk, our Book Club, and The Brave, my cocktail pick this month is the Troubadour, which incorporates both wine and scotch, a hint of Cherry (for Cherie) and some bitters for Jones. 

The Cocktail

The Book

Now that you've had a sip of The Brave Never Write Poetry with "Our Generation", get the longer  The Brave Never Write Poetry Chappy Hour excerpt here, then get the whole collection here.

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Love our Chappy Hour column? Read past entries here.

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