Cherkovski, Neeli

Broadside: The Summer Palace

San Francisco, CA: Twenty-Two Press, 1976. First Edition. Single Sheet. Inscribed, dated, and signed with illustration by Neeli Cherkovski to Thomas Rain Crowe. “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 wouldn’t 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 wasn’t snobbish or confined by his sexual preferences and could mix with any crowd or in any kind of environment.”(Thomas Rain Crowe, TRC Archive Catalog, pg 17) Neeli Cherkovski (1945-2024) was a prolific American poet and the co-authorial founder of the Second San Francisco Renaissance. This broadside is one of an extensive oeuvre of poetry, political writings, literary criticism, and more. The lower right corner of this broadside features a small illustration of a person, a smiling sun, and a winged figure above Cherkovski’s inscription to Crowe which reads, “For Tom / From / Neeli 76,” in purple ink. From the archive of Thomas Rain Crowe, the legendary American poet and co-authorial founder of the Second San Francisco Renaissance. 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 No. 3071) & the catalog for the Crowe archive (Item No. 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 sheet (8 1/2” x 14”): presumed first edition, first-&-only printing though not explicated as such, “Printed by Kaye McDonough of Green Light Press” (TRC Archive Catalog, pg. 18). In relatively good-to-near-fine condition with a small, closed tear to top edge; mild-to-moderate creasing to the top edge and corners; mild spotting, scuffing to recto and verso; mild bumping to the fine edges and corners. Good-Near Fine. [Item #7559]

Price: $60.00