Neeli Cherkovski (bornNelson Innis Cherry; July 1, 1945 – March 19, 2024) was an American poet and memoirist, who resided from 1975 onwards in San Francisco.

Born Nelson Innis Cherry to a Jewish family inSanta Monica, California, on July 1, 1945, Cherkovski grew up inSan Bernardino, California.^[1][2] The surname Cherkovski was his family's original name, which his paternal grandfather changed to Cherry after immigrating to the United States.^[2]

Cherkovski was educated atCalifornia State University, Los Angeles, and briefly attendedHebrew Union College.^[2] 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 SenatorGeorge Moscone.^[2] Cherkovski wrote biographies ofLawrence Ferlinghetti, andCharles Bukowski,^[3] with whom he co-edited the Los Angeles magazineLaugh Literary and Man the Humping Guns.^[4] 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'scafé culture.

Poetry criticGerald Nicosia said of Cherkovski: "...in the end, what stamps Cherkovski’s poetry as unique is its unboundedlyricism, a lyrical gift easily greater than that of any other poet of his generation."^[5]

Cherkovski was the author ofWhitman's Wild Children, a collection of essays about twelve poets he had known:Michael McClure, Bukowski,John Wieners,James Broughton,Philip Lamantia,Bob Kaufman,Allen Ginsberg,William Everson,Gregory Corso,Harold Norse,Jack Micheline, and Ferlinghetti. This book combines biography, personal stories, and poetry analyses.

Cherkovski was a writer-in-residence at theNew College of California in San Francisco.^{[citation needed]} He taught literature and philosophy there until the school closed in 2008. His body of poetry includesAnimal,Elegy for Bob Kaufman andLeaning Against Time, for which he was awarded the 15th AnnualPEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award in 2005. In 2017, he was awarded the Jack Mueller Poetry Prize by Lithic Press. Cherkovski's papers are housed at the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. He continued to write poems up until the end of his life.^[2]

Cherkovski died from a heart attack at a hospital in San Francisco on March 19, 2024, at the age of 78.^[2][6] At the time of his death, he was in a relationship with Jesus Guinto Cabrera.^[2]

• Don't Make a Move (Tecumseh Press, 1974)
• The Waters Reborn (Red Hill Press, 1975)
• Public Notice (Beatitude, 1975)
• Ferlinghetti, a biography (DoubleDay, 1979)
• Love Proof (Green Light Press, 1980)
• Juggler Within (Harwood Alley Monographs, 1983)
• Clear Wind (Avant Books, 1984)
• Whitman's Wild Children (Lapis Press, 1989)
• Hank: The Life of Charles Bukowski (Random House, 1991)
• Animal (Pantograph Press, 1996)
• Elegy for Bob Kaufman (Sun Dog Press, 1996)
• Leaning Against Time (R.L. Crow Publications, 2004)
• Naming the Nameless (Sore Dove Press, 2004)
• From the Canyon Outward (R.L. Crow Publications, 2009)]
• From the Middle Woods (New Native Press, 2011)
• Manila Poems (Bottle of Smoke Press, 2013)
• Elegy for My Beat Generation (Lithic Press, 2018)
• In the Odes (Magra Books, 2018)
• Coolidge & Cherkovski: In Conversation (Lithic Press, 2020)
• Cherkovski, Neeli (May 2024).Selected Poems 1959-2022.ISBN 978-1-946583-31-4.^[7]

• www.neelicherkovski.net own website
• Neeli Cherkovski atIMDb
• A Prison Poem, a 2004 poem by Cherkovski
• A few selected poems
• Interview with Cherkovski.

• 1945 births
• 2024 deaths
• 20th-century American Jews
• 20th-century American male writers
• 20th-century American poets
• 21st-century American Jews
• 21st-century American male writers
• 21st-century American poets
• American Book Award winners
• American LGBTQ poets
• American male poets
• Beat Generation writers
• California State University, Los Angeles alumni
• Jewish American poets
• LGBTQ people from California
• New College of California
• PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award winners
• People from San Bernardino, California
• Writers from San Francisco
• Writers from Santa Monica, California

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