Neeli Cherkovski was born in Los Angeles&nbsp;and attended Los Angeles State College (now&nbsp;Cal&nbsp;State Los Angeles).&nbsp;He is the author of many books of poetry, including&nbsp;Animal&nbsp;(1996),&nbsp;Leaning Against Time&nbsp;(2005),&nbsp;From the Canyon Outward&nbsp;(2009),&nbsp;and&nbsp;The Crow and I&nbsp;(2015). He is the coeditor&nbsp;of&nbsp;Anthology of L.A. Poets&nbsp;(with Charles Bukowski),&nbsp;Cross-Strokes: Poetry between Los Angeles and San Francisco&nbsp;(with Bill Mohr), and&nbsp;Collected Poems of Bob Kaufman&nbsp;(with Raymond Foye and Tate Swindell). He also wrote biographies of Lawrence Ferlinghetti&nbsp;and&nbsp;Charles Bukowski, as well as the critical memoir&nbsp;Whitman’s Wild Children&nbsp;(1988). His forthcoming book of poems is called ABC’s.