Northwest Review – Bukowski Interview + “462-0614” Poem

Description

Published in 1977 by the University of Oregon’s Northwest Review, this issue features a long-form interview with Charles Bukowski by Marc Chénetier—one of the most substantial and insightful Q&As from this period. Bukowski speaks openly about literature, alienation, and writing as survival, offering up the kind of hard-won honesty that defines his best work. If you’re looking for a time capsule of Bukowski’s self-awareness during his Post Office / Women era rise, this is it.

Also included is the poem “462-0614”—titled after Bukowski’s actual phone number. It’s a raw, confessional piece about the loneliness of connection, and the irony of being seen as someone with answers when you’re falling apart yourself. Publishing his number as a poem title says everything about Bukowski’s contradictory impulses: brutal honesty, no filter, and a weary kind of invitation to the world he could never fully join.

A must-have for Bukowski collectors—featuring a phone number as a poem and an interview that pulls no punches.