Cherkovsky, Neeli; Foldvary, Diana

Beatitude Broadside (February 1976)

n/p: n/p, 1976. First & Only Printing. Single Sheet. Signed by Neeli Cherkovski and Diana Foldvary. “I met Neeli early on and we became ‘compatriots’ almost immediately. He was really the person who introduced me to everyone and to what was going on in San Francisco during my first weeks and months there. In that sense he was very generous with his time and energy (which he had a lot of in those days). He was already entrenched in the literary life, having come up from Los Angeles and the scene there with Charles Bukowski, Paul Vangelisti and others—and was making a life for himself in San Francisco with the long-term in mind. My first response to Neeli was that he was a lot like a young version of Allen Ginsberg. A kind of publicist and traffic cop for what was going on around him. This kind of energy and enthusiasm attracted all kinds of people, both younger and older than him. In this sense, it wouldnt be wrong to say that he was the “spark” that ignited much of what happened during those years. His energy was contagious and he was someone who always had lots of ideas. He was often the “idea man” behind things that would eventually take place in North Beach and beyond. He identified strongly with the gay community, the gay poets and writers and–like writers of the generation before him–wrote often about love and the gay experience. But he wasnt snobbish or confined by his sexual preferences and could mix with any crowd or in any kind of environment.”--Thomas Rain Crowe, Thomas Rain Crowe Archive, pg 17. Offered today is the rare and delightful broadside Beatitude Broadside “Feb 76” w/”poem” by American poet and memoirist Neeli Cherkovski (1945–2024) and “Diamond Light” by Diana Foldvary the poet-artist who was active in the scene of the Second San Francisco Renaissance/Baby Beat Generation. “Diamond Light” is a surreal dream-like poem that swims in expressionist-inspired imagery, soars with an effulgent nostalgia, and is dripping with pathos–a rare poetic piece from the San Francisco based painter. “Poem,” the work by Cherkovski which takes up the opposite side of this broadside, is raw, rooted in the sensibilities of the Second San Francisco Renaissance/Baby Beat Generation, and swims in a sort of ecstasy one only finds in pure poetic expression and experimentation. Handwritten in thick blue ink on recto, perpendicular with and next to text, are title, names of the poets and date, apparently in several hands. From the archive of Thomas Rain Crowe, scholar, writer and member of the Baby Beat Generation. For more information on the Thomas Rain Crowe archive (assembled & curated by Third Mind Books), see our book Starting From San Francisco: Thomas Rain Crowe in Conversation with Third Mind Books (item #3071) & the catalog for the Crowe archive (see item #1010), which contains several excerpts and quotations from the book as well as a full listing of the archive’s contents, which are now being offered for sale individually on the Third Mind Books site. Single folded sheet broadside. First & only printing. In very fine condition with only minor wear to fine edges. Very Fine. [Item #7509]

Price: $50.00