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Cherkovski (Neeli) Papers
BANC MSS 2013/183
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
The Bancroft Library
Title: Neeli Cherkovski papers
Creator:
Cherkovski, Neeli
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 2013/183
Physical Description:
28 linear feet
(21 cartons, 2 volumes, 1 oversize box, 2 cassette boxes, 2
oversize folders)
Date (inclusive): 1945-2022
Date (bulk): 1960-2020
Abstract: The Neeli Cherkovski papers, 1945-2018;
undated [bulk 1960s-2017] consist of correspondence, writings, publicity, professional
papers, and artworks.
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections
are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on
the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Language of Material:
English .
Collection is open for research with the exception of cartons 15-21, which are unprocessed
and unavailable.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchase from Bill Morgan in 2011. Additions purchased from Neeli Cherkovski in 2018 and
2022.
Writings are divided into four sub-series: Notebooks, Poetry, Prose, and Writings by
others. Notebooks are arranged chronologically.
Poetry is divided in the following six sub-series: Individual, which are arranged in
the groupings Gathered (poems that were dated are arranged chronologically) and Alphabetized
(poems undated but are loosely arranged by decade and then alphabetically by title or first
line); Collected, arranged alphabetically by collection title and then chronologically;
Poems In Translation, arranged alphabetically and then chronologically; Broadsides, arranged
chronologically; Poems Published Online, arranged chronologically; and Poetry Collections
Edited by Cherkovski, alphabetically.
Prose is divided in the following nine sub-series: Forwards/Introductions, arranged
chronologically; Articles, arranged alphabetically; Reviews, arranged alphabetically;
Essays, arranged alphabetically; Speeches/Talks, arranged alphabetically; Eulogy; Fiction,
arranged into three sub-series: Short Stories, arranged alphabetically, Novels, arranged
alphabetically, and Fragments; Non-Fiction arranged into four sub-series: Short Stories,
arranged alphabetically, Memoirs, arranged hierarchically, Biography, arranged
alphabetically, and Fragments, undated and arranged hierarchically.
Miscellany is undated and arranged hierarchically.
Writings by Others are arranged alphabetically.
Publicity is divided into seven sub-series: Interviews, arranged chronologically, Articles,
sub-dived into Profile articles and Articles referring to Cherkvoski, both arranged
chronologically; Essays, arranged alphabetically; Reviews, arranged alphabetically; Poetry
Reading Flyers, sub-dived into Cherkovski, Cherkovski and others, and Others, all arranged
chronologically; Speaking Engagements, arranged chronologically; and Miscellany, arranged
chronologically and then hierarchically.
Professional Papers are divided into six sub-series: Biographical material, arranged
hierarchically; Agreements/Contracts, arranged chronologically; Interviews by Cherkovski,
arranged alphabetically by interviewee; Interviews by others, arranged hierarchically;
Teaching materials, arranged hierarchically then chronologically; Miscellany, arranged
hierarchically then chronologically.
Personal Papers are divided into four sub-series: Charles Bukowski miscellany, arranged
chronologically; Harold Norse memorial materials; Black Sparrow Press catalogs, arranged
chronologically; Miscellany, arranged hierarchically.
Artworks are arranged by creator beginning with Cherkovski and followed alphabetically by
artist.
Audio/Visual Materials are unarranged but listed individually in the container listing.
Neeli Cherkovski (nee Nelson Cherry) an American poet and biographer was born in Santa
Monica, California in 1945, but grew up in San Bernardino, California, his family having
moved there in 1954. During his attendance at Arrowview Junior High School, Cherkovski began
his first attempts at writing poetry, initially a kind of dare to his seventh grade teacher
Mr. Biggs. It was also in junior high school that Cherkovski had his first gay sexual
experiences.
In 1960 Cherkovski, while still a sophomore in high school, met Jory Sherman, a
twenty-seven-year-old poet who had recently moved to San Bernardino from San Francisco.
Sherman regaled Cherkovski with stories of the writer's life among the San Francisco Beat
scene. Sherman also described the then little known poet Charles Bukowski and helped arrange
a first meeting that was to prove pivotal in Cherkovski's life as a poet. Bukowski took a
shine to Cherkovski and encouraged his early work. In 1962 Cherkovski began to publish his
own literary magazine, Black Cat Review named after the Black Cat Café the bohemian
gathering spot in San Francisco where his parents had hung out before WW II.
Upon leaving San Bernardino Community College in 1965 for Los Angeles State College (now
California State University, Los Angles), Cherkovski graduated two years later with a B.A.
in American Studies. While there he played a leading role in the anti-war movement on
campus. During his graduate studies following his B.A., in late 1968, Cherkovski was
eventually arrested for his protest activities surrounding the Dow Chemical recruitment
program at Cal State. He then went on to rabbinical school at the Hebrew Union College,
Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. It was during this time that Cherkovski also
spent many an evening visiting Bukowski and drinking beer at his east Hollywood apartment.
After two years of rabbinical school Cherkovski departed for Europe to travel and write and
then headed to Israel spending time on a kibbutz where he had an affair with a young
American woman.
Having returned to California, Cherkovski was hired as a press aid for state Senator George
Moscone in 1975 who was planning a run for Mayor of San Francisco. San Francisco in the
mid-70s was the epicenter of the burgeoning gay revolution and Cherkovski began having
frequent sexual encounters in the pre-AIDS foment. It was during this time he also met the
poets Harold Norse, who was to become a close friend and guide to this liberated gay world,
and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Cherkovski, through the help of Ferlinghetti, found an apartment
in North Beach and quickly become a local fixture in the cafés and bars of the bohemian set
and produced the first San Francisco Poetry Festival, and later in the early 90s helping to
found Café Arts Month, a yearly event celebrating San Francisco's café culture. Beginning in
the late 90s until the school closed in 2008, Cherkovski was a writer-in-residence at the
New College of California in San Francisco teaching literature and philosophy.
His 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.
Cherkovski's extensive travels in Europe and the U.S. has had great and lasting effect upon
his writing, but especially those unscripted travels in Mexico whose landscape and culture
resulted in the book of poems Toltec Stone, Aztec Windows. He has also published bilingual
editions in Austria, Mexico, and Italy. In 2017 he was awarded the Jack Mueller Poetry Prize
by Lithic Press.
Cherkovski was the coeditor of Anthology of L.A. Poets (with Charles Bukowski),
Cross-Strokes: Poetry between Los Angeles and San Francisco (with Bill Mohr), and Collected
Poems of Bob Kaufman (with Raymond Foye and Tate Swindell).
Cherkovski also became known for his biographical writings, most notably his biography
Bukowski: A Life. He is also the author of Whitman's Wild Children, a collection of essays
combining biography, personal stories, and poetry analyses 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.
Poetry critic/biographer 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." He currently resides in a modest house in Bernal
Heights with his longtime partner Jesse Cabrera.
The 2011 and 2018 accessions of the Neeli Cherkovski papers were processed by Dean Smith in
2022. The 2022 additions to the collection (in carton 15-21) are unprocessed and unavailable
to researchers as of July 2022.
The Neeli Cherkovski papers, 1945-2022; undated [bulk 1960s-2020] consist of seven Series:
Correspondence, Writings, Publicity, Professional papers, Personal papers, Artworks, and
Audio/Visual materials. Correspondence is divided into three sub-series: Outgoing (arranged
chronologically), Family (one folder of miscellaneous family members arranged
chronologically), and General (arranged alphabetically and then chronologically).
Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17,
U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of
University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and
publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials
protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of
the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited
without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with
the user. For additional information about the University of California, Berkeley Library's
permissions policy please see: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/permissions-policies
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Poets, American--20th century--California
Manuscripts for publication