Poetry. "BEAT THING is David Meltzer's truly epic poem -- an engagement with history and his own participatory and witnessing presence"--Jerome Rothenberg. David Meltzer began his literary career during the beat heyday in San Francisco, reading poetry to jazz accompaniment at the famous Jazz Cellar. Books edited by David Meltzer and available at SPD include READING JAZZ, THE WRITING JAZZ, SAN FRANCISCO BEAT. He teaches in the Humanities and graduate Poetics programs at the New College of California in San Francisco, CA.