David Meltzer

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For the professional wrestling journalist, see Dave Meltzer.

David Meltzer (born February 17, 1937) is an American poet and musician of the Beat Generation and San Francisco Renaissance. Lawrence Ferlinghetti has described him as "one of the greats of post-World-War-Two San Francisco poets and musicians"[1] Meltzer came to prominence with inclusion of his work in the anthology The New American Poetry 1945-1960.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Meltzer was born in Rochester, New York, the son of a cellist and a harpist. In 1940, the family moved to Brooklyn. At the age of 11, he wrote his first poem, on the topic of the New York City subway system. He performed on radio and TV in The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour. The family moved once again to Rockville Centre. His parents separated and he accompanied his father to Los Angeles in 1954. In 1957, he moved to San Francisco and became part of a circle of writers based around Jack Spicer and Robert Duncan.

[edit] Work

One of the key poets of the Beat generation, Meltzer is also a jazz guitarist and Cabalist scholar and the author of more than 50 books of poetry and prose. 2005 saw the publication of David's Copy: The Selected Poems of David Meltzer (edited by Michael Rothenberg, with an introduction by Jerome Rothenberg) which provides a curretnt "overview" of Meltzer's work.

Meltzer's Beat Thing (La Alameda Press) is his epic poem on the Beat generation. It was called by Jack Hirschman:

“ Meltzer's most important lyri-political work to date...written by a poet who, in terms of the rhythms and verbal inventiveness and the naming of figures of popular culture, is without equal anywhere. ”

Meltzer's other books include No Eyes, poems on Lester Young, and a book of interviews, San Francisco Beat: Talking with the Poets (City Lights Books). [2]

Meltzer teaches at the New College of California in the Poetics Program which was originally founded by Duncan. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

[edit] Published works

[edit] Poetry

  • The Clown (Semina, 1960)
  • The Process (Oyez, 1965),
  • Yesod (Trigram, 1969),
  • Arrows: Selected Poetry, 1957-1992 (Black Sparrow Press, 1994)
  • No Eyes: Lester Young, (Black Sparrow, 2000)
  • David's Copy, (Penguin Group Press, 2005)

[edit] Fiction

  • The Agency Trilogy (Brandon House, l968; reprinted by Richard Kasak, 1994)
  • Orf (Brandon House, 1969; reprinted by Masquerade Books, 1995),
  • Under (Rhinoceros Books, 1997)

[edit] Essays

  • Two-Way Mirror: A Poetry Notebook (Oyez, 1977).

[edit] Edited

  • The Secret Garden: An Anthology in the Kabbalah (Continuum Press, 1976; reprinted, Station Hill Press, 1998)
  • Birth: Anthology of Ancients Texts, Songs, Prayers, and Stories (North Point Press, 1981)
  • Death: Anthology of Texts, Songs, Charms, Prayers, and Tales (North Point Press, 1984)
  • Reading Jazz (Mercury House, 1996)
  • Writing Jazz (Mercury House, 1999)
  • San Francisco Beat: Talking With the Poets (City Lights, 2001)

[edit] Discography

  • Serpent Power (Vanguard Records, 1968; reissued on CD in 1996)
  • Poet Song (Vanguard Records, 1969).

[edit] References

  1. ^ quoted in the back-cover blurb in the Penguin Selected Poems from 2005, David's Copy
  2. ^ Poetry Flash

[edit] External links