Praise for Neeli Cherkovski's The Portrait Gallery Called Existence:
"The Portrait Gallery Called Existence is a catalog of reading experiences as much as it is a masterfully rendered set of addresses – Neeli Cherkovski's lifelong apprenticeship to poetry culminating in a wry, searching, reclaiming set of poems that adjust form subtly in relation to the poet's experience of the work and person he's circling back around through each pass. These poems are edged by hand and ear with a care categories such as biography and autobiography can't catch, and their beauty–of which there is a great well–is bound up with a moving sharpness of utterance that stands profoundly against harm."–Anselm Berrigan, author of Don't Forget to Love Me
"During an era when poets were dangerous to know and destroyed their bodies pursuing their art, Neeli Cherkovski stayed observant. From first encounters to final conversations, The Portrait Gallery Called Existence revives voices of American literary consciousness: Ferlinghetti, Ginsberg, di Prima, Coleman, Kaufman. I was one of countless crazy teenagers who learned something foundational from these poets, and I'm glad to revisit them by way of Cherkovski's insight. Existence offers a syllabus for autodidacts and misfit readers, traces the poet's literary and family lineages, and redistricts America according to its artistic brilliance. Cherkovski reveals the life that poetry shapes for us–a life that's not so evident these days. By simply holding this book you keep San Francisco from disappearing."–Evan Kennedy, author of Metamorphoses: City Lights Spotlight Series No. 22
"Neeli Cherkovski was a natural born poet. With every portal open to everything and each moment, he breathed poesy from the moment of his birth to his passing. For this last collection, as if to summarize his entire life, he curated a portraiture exhibition of his poetic, creative and biological 'family' including his own self-portrait. Here, we see his lineage and the vision ever so clearly."–Yuko Otomo, author of In Delacroix's Garden
Praise for Neeli Cherkovski:
"He was everything you could hope for in a classic West Coast poet, including seemingly unconcerned with anything in life more than with the line, the rhythm, the poem."–Joshua Bodwell, Zyzzyva
"[S]omeone who knew virtually all of the important West Coast Beats and learned from them firsthand . . ."–allenginsberg.org
"Age permeates these poems. It is the impetus to a compressed music that searches the heart of thought, turning feelings and impressions upside down, in order to move, or should I say, dance on."–Paul Vangelisti, editor, LA Exile: A Guide to Los Angeles Writing 1932-1998
