Jack Micheline
Jack Micheline, born Harvey Martin Silver to Russian Jewish parents in the Bronx, was a notable American poet associated with the Beat movement. Initially distancing himself from his upbringing, he adopted the name Micheline and began to explore his artistic voice after serving in the army and working various jobs. Moving to Greenwich Village in 1955, he became immersed in the vibrant arts community and developed an interest in African American culture. Micheline's poetry gained recognition when his first collection, *River of Red Wine*, was published in 1958, endorsed by the famous Beat writer Jack Kerouac.
Despite his connection to the Beat movement, Micheline viewed it as more of a marketing endeavor than a genuine artistic movement. His work often reflected themes of class struggle and authority, and he continued to write poetry and short fiction throughout his life. While his prominence waned with the decline of the Beat movement, he maintained an underground presence, notably with his jazz-accompanied play *East Bleeker* in 1967 and the acclaimed *North of Manhattan: Collected Poems, Ballads and Songs* in 1976. Micheline’s literary contributions and experiences encapsulate the complexities of living as an artist amid societal challenges.
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Jack Micheline
Poet
- Born: November 6, 1929
- Birthplace: New York, New York
- Died: February 27, 1998
- Place of death: Near Orinda, California
Biography
Jack Micheline was named Harvey Martin Silver when he was born to Russian Jewish parents in the Bronx. His father was a postal worker and sometime mechanic. The author’s need to distance himself from the money-focused world of his youth resulted in his taking the name “Micheline,” formed by adding an e to his mother’s maiden name. At seventeen, he entered the army; two years later, he lived for a short while in Israel. Returning to the United States, he worked at various indigent jobs, including a stint with Mexican migrant workers in Wisconsin, and began writing poetry. In 1955, he moved to Greenwich Village and quickly took up with the arts community. Micheline became interested in the African American cultural scene in New York, and in 1957 he won the Revolt in Literature Award as determined by the Half Note, a jazz club in the East Village.
While attempting to publish his first collection of poems, Micheline made the acquaintance of Beat writer Jack Kerouac, who agreed to endorse Micheline’s collection with a rambling introduction. Published by Troubador Press in 1958, River of Red Wine quickly placed Micheline on the literary map. His participation in the Beat movement soon helped him place poems in anthologies such as The Beat Scene (1960) and The Beats (1960). Micheline never thought of the Beat movement as a legitimate artistic movement, however, but more as a publisher’s publicity stunt. In his oral cadences and focus on the down and out, however, Micheline’s writing was nevertheless quintessentially “Beat.” He became more and more focused on the class system, and more and more interested in challenging the status quo and authority in general.
By 1962, Micheline published another collection (I Kiss Angels) and deserted New York to visit Mexico and places across the United States. He became involved in the budding countercultural movement in California and the Southwest, and was arrested on more than one occasion. The following year, he married Mimi Redding, the daughter of a well-known politician, and spent time traveling with her abroad, even as an earlier liaison gave birth to his only child, Vincent Silver Micheline. Due in part to his illegitimate son, and in part to his poet’s nature, Micheline’s marriage soon broke up and he returned to Greenwich Village.
Micheline began writing short fiction as well as poetry, even as he became more and more disillusioned with the so-called “revolution” of the 1960’s. As the Beats subsided, so did Micheline’s fame, yet he maintained an underground presence and popularity.
His jazz-accompanied play East Bleeker was produced in 1967, and incorporated many of his themes about the difficulty of living an artistic life in the face of oppression and corruption. He would go on in 1976 to publish North of Manhattan: Collected Poems, Ballads and Songs to great acclaim, and a few years later published another collection of short stories (Skinny Dynamite, 1980) that gained further notice.