King of the bums — A lot of writers bash Bukowski. It’s almost a sport, a very easy sport. Like kickball. No, Bukowski is not the pinnacle. Yes, Bukowski-worship is annoying. Worship of any author is annoying. But why is it ok to worship someone like Billy Collins or Sharon Olds? “But, but, but those…

I was the new janitor at Pima Community College in Tucson. I worked during the daytime which was much easier than the night crew. One morning I was in the east wing of the English building. I stopped in front of office CC126. Taped to the door was a newspaper…

When a writer is emotionally uninvolved with his subject matter, I call that “distance”. The stretching of emotional distance de-emphasizes original motivation and emphasizes craft. This is considered by many to be the sign of a master. What the master lacks in emotional intensity he patches up with odds and…

an excerpt from the Bacanora Notebooks — I dreamed I was washing my hands and the skin started coming off my fingers until my finger-bones were exposed. I cried for my mother, who was in another room in the house. I thought, please don’t let this be real. My mother heard me crying in the hallway where…

Hi, I’m Mike. It has been 64 days since my last Joe Rogan. I’m standing here before you today, because I know you, I know where you’ve been, and I can say that there is hope. I can see it in your faces: you’re thinking, this guy doesn’t know shit…

I get out of the cab and step into the oven of a normal Arizona summer day. I can’t find her, I can’t find her. My passenger is supposed to be at the “hypnotism clinic” at 5499 N. La Cholla. …

Me and Little John were sitting at the Greyhound bus station behind the wheels of our taxi cabs. We were toward the end of the cab queue. It was a depressing place to be, number 9 or 10 in the bus station cab queue, at 4 in the afternoon, in…

Sonja is a big black lady, a sweetheart. Her body’s falling apart at age 43: knees, back, innards. She can’t drive anymore. She took my cab to work last week and she asked me if I would be her regular driver. She’s a caregiver for an 80-year-old lady down on…

My first fare of a new day — It’s too early for this shit. The sun is an ember under a bear rug, and I’m full of vinegar. I pull my cab up to the trailer park to find the gates are locked. I call my fare, which is scheduled for a 4:30 AM pickup. I know the…