Pp.. 216-235 Summary

In "me and my buddy" Chinaski imagines himself by a river in China with the eighth century poet Li Po. They get drunk on wine and fiddle with their poems. Chinaski uses his for a cushion; Li Po burns his. All good poetry disappears in the end.

Chinaski and his friends Julio and Henry sit together drinking in "song." Julio plays a song he wrote about a girl who recently left him. He goes on abut how much he misses her and eventually leaves. Chinaski calls the girl later; evidently Julio dropped by.

In "practice" Chinaski recalls his buddies Eugene and Frank during the Depression. They have wild fist fights all the time, and their parents only intervene if their clothes get ripped. In the end, Eugene joins the Navy and Frank becomes a justice of the California Supreme Court.

"love...