Charles Bukowski was born 103 years ago today. A German-born American poet, novelist and short story writer, Bukowski’s writing was influenced by the social, cultural and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles. It is marked by an emphasis on the ordinary lives of poor Americans, the act of writing, alcohol, relationships with women and the drudgery of work. Bukowski wrote thousands of poems, hundreds of short stories and six novels, eventually publishing over sixty books. In 1986, Time Magazine called Bukowski a "laureate of American lowlife.”