Bourbon and Coke

by Robert L. Penick. Chance Magazine Press. 3929 South Fifth Street, Louisville, KY 40214.

Book Review by Michael Basinski

Bourbon and Coke is a bourbon and coke double bar bourbon with no ice to water down that bar back bourbon. Dedicated to Henry Chinaski seems to be a better indication as to what the poems is gunna be than any long winded fart introduction. So be it. And probably better than any long winded fart filled review. But who can stop from farting? The poems in this book are about drinking and friends who drink and things one sees when drinking heavily. Skip’s bar is the place to be. Drinkers live in worlds close by but not in the world of the huge sea of non-drinkers. I am sorry for them, them non-drinkers. I was stuck in a gas station during a snowstorm a few nights ago with about 30 people and announced that I would buy beer at 11PM, so we could at least have fun. No one responded. A few people then had coffee. A few people bought some crackers and a few waited in line to pee. A lot of people stood quietly watching the snow. They watched and watched. And watched the snowfall. Henry Chinaski was not among them. Robert Penick was not among them. Shortly later I left the gas station to make my way in the snow. I farted loudly in the cold and wind and dark. It felt good to be alone and away. This then is my mark of approval for Penick and his poems.