As an avid reader of Chas. I almost universally want to give his books high marks. This is an exception, but only mildly so. These poems don’t talk to me nearly as much as prior books. This piece of work, fortunately, does not represent him as well as nearly everything else he wrote. There are still several good poems as well as a number of average ones. Don’t take this as representative of the whole, though tis still average at worst which is better than most. Finished in Malta during the plague, 15.04.2020. ( )

Damn, Bukowski. I have heard other people's thoughts about this guy, but I was like, "Nah, he can't be that into booze and broads." but he is! No wonder there's a certain type of male fan of his... not that that's a bad thing, it's just uninteresting to me. I guess I'm not a romantic. ( )

As a huge Bukowski fan and a former correspondent with him and as an individual to whom he autographed a number of books and t-shirts, I tend to buy anything Bukowski. I have all of the Black Sparrow, City Lights, Ecco and Harper Collins books, as well as a couple of older ones now hard to find.

When this book came out, I was elated, naturally. I rushed to acquire it and read it through with growing unease. I say this, because this is the first time I've ever said what about I'm to write: This Bukowski book is utter crap! Talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel! Bukowski would probably be rolling over in his grave right now, and I'm ashamed that Linda and John Martin participated in allowing what is obviously a cheap attempt to cash in on the man's name and legacy. It's my belief this book has tarnished Buk's legacy -- but not by much.

Oh yeah, there are perhaps two decent poems in the entire book.... Pity. ( )

For a man who died in 1994 at the age of 73, Bukowski is still a prolific writer. Released in 2009, The Continual Condition is the newest book containing never before published poems.

Not being a poet, my gauge of how well I like a poetry book is based on how many pages I dogear to go back to and re-read. While I did really like the majority of poems here, I didn't dogear to many. Although it might just be my mood because I seemingly just picked the darkest poems as my favorites.

This Kind of Fire was one of my favorites, along with Perfect Silence, Dear Editor and Moving Towards Age 73. ( )