When I Was a Poet Pocket Poets Number 60

A dual milestone in City Lights history, When I Was a Poet is number 60 of the famous Pocket Poets Series, as well as our first book of poems by legendary Beat author David Meltzer. The title piece is an ambitious late work by a master at the height of his powers, a spiritual assessment of the meaning of a lifetime spent writing poetry. Also included are portraits of key figures in the poet's life, including his parents, his late wife and musical partner Tina Meltzer, and Semina artist Wallace Berman, as well as "California Dreamin'," a reminiscence of Beat-era bohemian life. Meltzer's wide-ranging musical knowledge manifests itself in "A Slew of Blues" as well as poems devoted to the likes of Art Pepper and Nusrat Ali Khan, while his esoteric interests are embodied in a series of mystical "amulets." The book's final section contains two more major works, the eight-part serial poem "Night Reals" and "Dogma," a modernist counterpoint to the autobiographical title piece. With its profound meditations on love, loss, aging and death, When I Was a Poet is a substantial contribution to American poetry by one of its greatest living practitioners. As Lawrence Ferlinghetti writes, Meltzer is "one of the greats of post-WWII San Francisco poets and musicians."