A belated note on the recently-published posthumous book out of City Lights, Neeli Cherkovski‘s The Portrait Gallery Called Existence
His Selected Poems 1959-2022 was published last year by Lithic Press
“In his final book, poet Neeli Cherkovski paints a portrait of his life through luminous details of encounters with his illustrious comrades.”
“The book follows Cherkovski from his early encounters in L.A. with poets like Wanda Coleman and Jack Micheline to his youthful heyday among the Beat Generation in North Beach, San Francisco, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso. The passage of time is inevitably marked with the loss of beloved friends, recorded in elegies for recently deceased poets like Diane di Prima, Michael McClure, and Jack Hirschman, as well as a series of poems celebrating his close friendship with Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
“Join Neeli as he drinks whiskey with Bob Kaufman in Chinatown, visits his gentle and impoverished hero John Wieners, and takes a terrifying drive through San Francisco with Ferlinghetti. Also included are several portraits of key poetic forebears, like Hart Crane, Gertrude Stein, and especially Rimbaud, examined from Cherkovski’s perspective in 1959 and 2023. The book ends with memories of close family members and a number of moving self-portraits..”
The book, scheduled to be out on what what would have been Neeli’s 80th birthday was recetntly celebrated on his home turf (see above – and see here)
See our previous postings on Neeli – here
Leon Horton‘s 2024 interview with Neeli for Beatdom may be found – here
& see also this collection of memories and appreciations collected for the Brooklyn Rail – here
Jonah Raskin, reviewing the recent San Francisco gathering notes:
“For much of his life – he died of heart failure on March 19th, 2024 at the age of 78 – Neeli, as his friends always called him, wanted two things. First, to be San Francisco’s poet laureate, and second, to be published by City Lights.. .Neeli’s first wish didn’t come true.
He was never the poet laureate of the city in which Ferlinghetti was the first to wear that crown. But Neeli’s second wish did come true..”
It’s Nice To Be With You Always, Kyle Harvey’s film about Neeli can be viewed – here
It was my pleasure interviewing Neeli back in 2024 and we remained in touch after. He very kindly wrote a wonderful memoir for my Gregory Corso tribute. I miss our phone conversations and remember how excited he was at having a book published by City Lights. A truly remarkable man and poet.