David Meltzer in 2007. Photo by Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center. Licensed under Creative Commons, courtesy Flickr Commons.
| David Meltzer | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 17, 1937 Rochester, New York |
| Citizenship |
 United States |
| Notable award(s) | Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award, 2008 |
David Meltzer (February 17, 1937 - December 31, 2016) was an American poet and musician of the Beat Generation and San Francisco Renaissance. Lawrence Ferlinghetti described him as "one of the greats of post-World-War-Two San Francisco poets and musicians."[1]
Life[]
Youth[]
Meltzer was born in Rochester, New York, the son of a cellist and a harpist. In 1940, the family moved to Brooklyn, New York City. At the age of 11, he wrote his earliest 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 Center. His parents separated, and he accompanied his father to Los Angeles in 1954.
Career[]
In 1957, he moved to San Francisco and became part of a circle of writers based around Jack Spicer and Robert Duncan.
In 1958, he recorded an album of his poems with a jazz combo for Jim Dickson on Dickson's Vaja label. The album was not released but finally saw the light of day in 2006 on Sierra Records titled "David Meltzer: Poet with Jazz 1958." Jim Dickson had earlier recorded Lord Buckley, Lenny Bruce and the Page Cavanaugh Trio. Later Jim would be A&R producer for World Pacific and Elektra Records as well as discovering and producing the rock group, the Byrds.
Meltzer came to prominence with inclusion of his work in the anthology, The New American Poetry, 1945-1960.
In 1968, Meltzer signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.[2]
Meltzer taught at the New College of California in the Poetics Program,.[3] which was originally founded by Robert Duncan. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Writing[]
One of the key poets of the Beat generation, Meltzer is also a jazz guitarist, 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 and with an introduction by Jerome Rothenberg), which provides a current overview of Meltzer's work.
Meltzer's Beat Thing (La Alameda Press) is his epic poem on the Beat generation. Jack Hirschman said of it:
| “ | 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).[4]
Death[]
He spent most of his life in the San Francisco Bay Area. Meltzer died on December 31, 2016, after suffering a stroke at his home in Oakland.[5][6]
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- Poems. San Francisco: Donald & Alice Schenker, 1957.
- Ragas. San Francisco: Discovery Books, 1959.
- The Clown: A poem. Larkspur, CA: Semina, 1960.
- The Process. Berkeley, CA: Oyez, 1965.
- The Dark Continent. Berkeley, CA: Oyez, 1967.
- Round the Poem Box: Rustic & domestic home movies for Stan & Jane Brakhage. Los Angeles: Black Sparrow, 1969.
- Yesod. London: Trigram Press, 1969.
- Greenspeech. Goleta, CA: Christopher Books, 1970.
- Luna. Los Angeles: Black Sparrow, 1970.
- Knots. Bolinas, CA: Tree Press, 1971.
- Bark: A polemic. Santa Barbara, CA: Capra Press, 1973.
- The Eyes, the Blood. Berkeley, CA: Mudra, 1973.
- French Broom. Berkeley, CA: Oyez, 1973.
- Hero / Lil. Los Angeles: Black Sparrow, 1973.
- Blue Rags. Berkeley, CA: Oyez, 1974.
- Harps. Berkeley, CA: Oyez, 1975.
- Six. Santa Barbara, CA: Black Sparrow, 1976.
- The Name: Selected poetry, 1973-1983. Sant Barbara, CA: Black Sparrow, 1984.
- Arrows: Selected poetry, 1957-1992. Santa Rosa, CA: Black Sparrow, 1994.
- No Eyes: Lester Young. Santa Rosa, CA: Black Sparrow, 2000.
- Beat Thing. Albuquerque, NM: La Alameda Press, 2004.
- David's Copy: The selected poems (edited by Michael Rothenberg). New York: Penguin, 2005.
- When I Was a Poet" San Francisco: City Lights, 2011. ISBN 978-0-87286-516-7
Fiction[]
- Agency. North Hollywood, CA: Essex House, 1968.
- The Agency Trilogy (edited by Richard Kasak). New York: Masquerade Books, 1994.
- Orf. North Hollywood, CA: Essex House, 1968; New York: Rhinoceros Books, 1993.
- Under. New York: Masquerade Books, 1995.
Non-fiction[]
- Journal of the Birth. Berkeley, CA: Oyez, 1967.
- Golden Gate: Interviews with 5 San Francisco poets. Berkeley, CA: Wingbow Press, 1976.
Collected editions[]
- We All Have Something to Say to Each Other: Being an essay entitled Patchen and four poems. San Francisco: Auerhahn, 1962.
Edited[]
- The San Francisco Poets. New York: Ballantine, 1971.
- The Secret Garden: An anthology in the Kabbalah. New York: Seabury, 1976; Barrytown, NY: Station Hill of Barrytown, 1998.
- Birth: An anthology of ancients texts, songs, prayers, and stories. San Francisco: North Point Press, 1981.
- Death: An anthology of texts, songs, charms, prayers, and tales. San Francisco: North Point Press, 1984.
- Reading Jazz. San Francisco: Mercury House, 1993.
- Writing Jazz. San Francisco: Mercury House, 1999.
- San Francisco Beat: Talking with the poets. San Francisco: City Lights, 2001.
Journals[]
- Two-Way Mirror: A poetry notebook. Berkeley, CA: Oyez, 1977.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[7]
Audio / video[]
Beat Poet David Meltzer at the Mic at the 2010 Watershed Poetry Festival
- David Meltzer Reading (cassette). Milwaukee, WI: Membrane Press, 1980.
Discography[]
- The Serpent Power, Serpent Power (Vanguard Records, 1968)
- Tina & David Meltzer, Poet Song (Vanguard Records, 1969).
- The Serpent Power/Tina & David Meltzer, Serpent Power/Poet Song (reissue, Comet/Akarma Records, 1996).
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ quoted in the back-cover blurb in the Penguin Selected Poems from 2005, David's Copy
- ↑ “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” January 30, 1968 New York Post
- ↑ "Biography of David Meltzer". City Lights. http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100606360&fa=author&person_id=4924#content.
- ↑ "Poetry Flash Reading Series". Poetry Flash. http://poetryflash.org/codys.current.html.
- ↑ "David Meltzer" (in en-us). January 1, 2017. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/david-meltzer.
- ↑ McMurtrie, John (January 2, 2017). "David Meltzer, Beat Generation poet and musician, dies at 79". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfchronicle.com/books/article/David-Meltzer-Beat-Generation-poet-and-musician-10830409.php.
- ↑ Search results = au:David Meltzer, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Dec. 12, 2014.
External links[]
- Poems
- "The Art, The Veil"
- David Meltzer b. 1937 at the Poetry Foundation
- David Meltzer @ EPC (Electronic Poetry Center)
- Audio / video
- Books
- David Meltzer at Amazon.com
- Works by or about David Meltzer in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- About
- Etc.
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