Neeli Cherkovski

was born in Santa Monica, California in 1945. He is an applauded poet, critic, memoirist, and literary biographer. He has written twelve books of poetry, including: From the Canyon Outward, the award winning Leaning Against Time, Elegy for Bob Kaufman, and Animal; two acclaimed biographies, Bukowski: A Life and Ferlinghetti: A Biography.  His book, Whitman’s Wild Children (a collection of critical memoirs), has become an underground classic.  He teaches in The Floating University, offering courses in poetics, along with David Meltzer and Michael Rothenberg.