Neeli Cherkovski
Encyclopedia
Neeli Cherkovski:Neeli Cherkovski: (born Nelson Cherry, 1945, Santa Monica, California
, Cherkovski grew up in San Bernardino, California
. Cherkovski has resided in San Francisco since 1975 where he is known as a poet and memoirist. In the 1970s he was a political consultant in the Riverside area who came to San Francisco to work on the staff of then-State Senator George Moscone
. He has written biographies of Lawrence Ferlinghetti
, Bob Kaufman
, and Charles Bukowski
with whom he co-edited the Los Angeles zine Laugh Literary and Man the Humping Guns
.. Cherkovski produced the first San Francisco Poetry Festival, and in the early-1990s helped to found Café Arts Month, a yearly event celebrating San Francisco’s cafe culture.
Poetry critic Gerald Nicosia
said of Cherkovski, "...in the end, what stamps Cherkovski’s poetry as unique is its unbounded lyricism
, a lyrical gift easily greater than that of any other poet of his generation."
Cherkovski is the author of Whitman's Wild Children, a collection of essays about twelve poets he has known: Michael McClure
, Charles Bukowski
, John Wieners
, James Broughton
, Philip Lamantia
, Bob Kaufman
, Allen Ginsberg
, William Everson
, Gregory Corso
, Harold Norse
, Jack Micheline
, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti
. This book combines biography, personal stories, and poetry analyses.
Cherkovski was a writer-in-residence at the New College of California
in San Francisco. He taught literature and philosophy there until the school closed in 2008. Cherkovski's body of poetry includes Animal, Elegy for Bob Kaufman and Leaning Against Time, for which he was awarded the 15th Annual PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award
in 2005. His most recent work is From the Canyon Outward.
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
, Cherkovski grew up in San Bernardino, California
San Bernardino, California
San Bernardino is a city located in the Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area , and serves as the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States...
. Cherkovski has resided in San Francisco since 1975 where he is known as a poet and memoirist. In the 1970s he was a political consultant in the Riverside area who came to San Francisco to work on the staff of then-State Senator George Moscone
George Moscone
George Richard Moscone was an American attorney and Democratic politician. He was the 37th mayor of San Francisco, California, US from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. Moscone served in the California State Senate from 1967 until becoming Mayor. In the Senate, he served as...
. He has written biographies of Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Lawrence Ferlinghetti is an American poet, painter, liberal activist, and the co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers...
, Bob Kaufman
Bob Kaufman
Bob Kaufman , born Robert Garnell Kaufman, was an American Beat poet and surrealist inspired by jazz music. In France, where his poetry had a large following, he was known as the "American Rimbaud."-Biography:...
, and Charles Bukowski
Charles Bukowski
Henry Charles Bukowski was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles...
with whom he co-edited the Los Angeles zine Laugh Literary and Man the Humping Guns
Laugh Literary and Man the Humping Guns
Laugh Literary and Man the Humping Guns was a mimeographed literary magazine published between 1969 and 1971 in Los Angeles, California by Charles Bukowski and Neeli Cherkovski . The original title was to be "Laugh Literary and Man the Fucking Guns," but Cherkovski convinced Bukowski to...
.. Cherkovski produced the first San Francisco Poetry Festival, and in the early-1990s helped to found Café Arts Month, a yearly event celebrating San Francisco’s cafe culture.
Poetry critic Gerald Nicosia
Gerald Nicosia
Gerald Nicosia, born November 18, 1949 in Berwyn, Illinois, is a freelance journalist, interviewer, and literary critic.He received a B.A. and an M.A...
said of Cherkovski, "...in the end, what stamps Cherkovski’s poetry as unique is its unbounded lyricism
Lyric poetry
Lyric poetry is a genre of poetry that expresses personal and emotional feelings. In the ancient world, lyric poems were those which were sung to the lyre. Lyric poems do not have to rhyme, and today do not need to be set to music or a beat...
, a lyrical gift easily greater than that of any other poet of his generation."
Cherkovski is the author of Whitman's Wild Children, a collection of essays about twelve poets he has known: Michael McClure
Michael McClure
Michael McClure is an American poet, playwright, songwriter, and novelist. After moving to San Francisco as a young man, he found fame as one of the five poets who read at the famous San Francisco Six Gallery reading in 1955 rendered in barely fictionalized terms in Jack Kerouac's Dharma Bums...
, Charles Bukowski
Charles Bukowski
Henry Charles Bukowski was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles...
, John Wieners
John Wieners
John Joseph Wieners was an American lyric poet.-Biography:Born in Milton, Massachusetts, Wieners attended St. Gregory Elementary School in Dorchester, Massachusetts and Boston College High School. From 1950 to 1954, he studied at Boston College, where he earned his A.B...
, James Broughton
James Broughton
James Broughton was an American poet, and poetic filmmaker. He was part of the San Francisco Renaissance...
, Philip Lamantia
Philip Lamantia
Philip Lamantia was an American poet and lecturer. Lamantia's visionary poems were ecstatic, terror-filled, and erotic which explored the subconscious world of dreams and linked it to the experience of daily life.-Biography:...
, Bob Kaufman
Bob Kaufman
Bob Kaufman , born Robert Garnell Kaufman, was an American Beat poet and surrealist inspired by jazz music. In France, where his poetry had a large following, he was known as the "American Rimbaud."-Biography:...
, Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
, William Everson
William Everson
William Everson , also known as Brother Antoninus, was an American poet of the San Francisco Renaissance and was also a literary critic and small press printer.-Beginnings:Everson was born in Sacramento, California...
, Gregory Corso
Gregory Corso
Gregory Nunzio Corso was an American poet, youngest of the inner circle of Beat Generation writers...
, Harold Norse
Harold Norse
Harold Norse was an American writer who created a body of work using the American idiom of everyday language and images. One of the expatriate artists of the Beat generation, Norse was widely published and anthologized.- Life :Born Harold Rosen to an unmarried Lithuanian Jewish immigrant in Brooklyn...
, Jack Micheline
Jack Micheline
Jack Micheline , born Harold Martin Silver, was an American painter and poet from the San Francisco Bay Area. His name is synonymous with street artists, underground writers, and "outlaw" poets...
, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Lawrence Ferlinghetti is an American poet, painter, liberal activist, and the co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers...
. This book combines biography, personal stories, and poetry analyses.
Cherkovski was a writer-in-residence at the New College of California
New College of California
New College of California was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1971 by former Gonzaga University President, Father John Leary. After 37 years, it ceased operations in early 2008....
in San Francisco. He taught literature and philosophy there until the school closed in 2008. Cherkovski's body of poetry includes Animal, Elegy for Bob Kaufman and Leaning Against Time, for which he was awarded the 15th Annual PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award
PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award
According to its website, PEN Oakland was founded in 1989 by Ishmael Reed, who came up with the idea, and co-founders Floyd Salas, Reginald Lockett and Claire Ortalda, in order to “promote works of excellence by writers of all cultural and racial backgrounds and to educate both the public and the...
in 2005. His most recent work is From the Canyon Outward.
External links
- A Prison Poem, a 2004 poem by Cherkovski
- A few selected poems