I usually like Meltzer's stuff, but I just couldn't find the door into this one. Maybe my taste is changing. ( )

David Meltzer (1937-), a noted Beat Poet, musician and long time San Francisco resident, moved to the city by the Bay in 1957, after he read two notable Beat poetry collections, Lawrence Ferlinghetti's [Pictures of the Gone World], published in 1955, and Allen Ginsberg's [Howl], which was released the following year. He befriended the two men, and also began to write poetry and fiction. He also played jazz guitar in the late 1950s and early 1960s, then became a part of the San Francisco rock scene in the middle of the decade, hosting jam sessions with artists such as David Crosby and Jerry Garcia. He later joined the psychedelic band Serpent Power, whose self titled album was proclaimed one of the best of the Summer of Love by Rolling Stone.

Despite his prolific output, [When I Was a Poet] is the first collection to be published by City Lights, which was released in 2011 as part of its Pocket Poets Series. The poems highlight the bohemian life of Meltzer, Ginsberg and their friends in 1950s San Francisco, with a style that favors but does not mimic that of his contemporaries. Meltzer, still active in his mid 70s, also writes about his life, and those close to him he has loved and lost, along with mid-century bebop and modern jazz, such as this tribute to legendary saxophonist Art Pepper:

Art's desire to get it all said
to all who thought him dead
in the joint & beside the point

Art's struggle to sing it all
through jazz warfare & tell
everything he knew in brass
speed rap stir crazy utopia
of muscle chops push it in your face
rough unrelenting grace

fierce Art pitbull clamps down
pulls edges out in time to break through
scream knotty beauty
toe to toe w/ any joe
who thinks they know better

Art tattoos blue needles into moonlight skin
junk light makes mirrors perfect
Art's smoke aches out of wounds

L.A. Art burritos & bebop
black guacamole serge zoots
Central Avenue cat copping

Pepper at Club Alabam
in Lee Young's band
all the chicks & the hatcheck chick
have big eyes for Art's horn

These poems, particularly "California Dreamin", are enjoyable to read. However, like most Beat Poetry, they are best appreciated in a smoky club or cozy bookstore, preferably with the backing of a jazz bassist or small ensemble. I missed seeing Meltzer read from this book at City Lights last year, but I hope to be able to catch him live in performance during a future trip to San Francisco. ( )