Benjamin Saltman
Benjamin Saltman
Benjamin Saltman
Born7 September 1927
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Died9 January 1999
Kensington, California
OccupationPoet, professor

Benjamin Saltman (September 7, 1927 – January 9, 1999) was an American poet and Professor of verse writing and contemporary American literature at California State University, Northridge.[1][2] The Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award[3] is given annually by Red Hen Press in his honor.[4]

Biography

Saltman was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the youngest son of Russian-Jewish (Ukrainian) immigrants. He earned a B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1952 and an M.A. in creative writing from San Francisco State University in 1959. After graduation he took a job at Sierra College near Auburn, California where he, along with around seven students, started a literary magazine named Viewpoint.[5] He taught for one year at Sierra College before joining his friend Alvin Duskin as a teacher at the experimental college, Emerson, in Pacific Grove, Ca.[5] From 1965–67 he was an Instructor of Humanities at Harvey Mudd College.[6] In 1967 he received a Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate School where he wrote his doctoral thesis "The Descent to God: Religious Language in Several Contemporary American Poets". At Claremont Ben Saltman became good friends with poet Bert Meyers, whose friendship and encouragement inspired him to start writing poetry seriously.[5]

Benjamin Saltman married Helen Saltman in 1968, they have three children and six grandchildren.[7]

Career

Saltman was the recipient of two literature fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1969 and 1987.[8] In 1992, after retiring, he volunteered to teach at California State University Northridge for free after state budget cuts caused the school to cancel 1,000 courses previously scheduled for the fall semester.[9][10][11]

Association with Vedanta

After reading the Swami Prabhavananda's translation and commentary on the Bhagavad Gita,[12] Saltman started frequenting lectures at the Vedanta Society of Southern California[5] along with disciples Aldous Huxley and Christopher Isherwood. In addition to being cited as providing editorial assistance for the Swami Prabhavananda in "The Sermon on the Mount according to Vedanta",[13] he wrote an article for "Vedanta and the West" called What Vedanta Means to Me.[14]

Bibliography

Books and Chapbooks

  • Blue with Blue (1968)
  • The Leaves, The People (1974)[15]
  • Elegies of Place (1976)
  • Deck (1979)[16]
  • Five Poems (1989)
  • The Book of Moss (1992)[17]
  • The Sun Takes Us Away (1996)[18]
  • Sleep and Death, the Dream (1999)[19]
  • The Book of Moss (extended edition – 2016)
  • Alone With Everyone: the Uncollected Poems of Benjamin Saltman (2017)[20]
  • California Beige and Other Writings (2018)
  • A Termite Memoir (2018)

Poetry in Magazines

  • “I Mumble, Mr. Auden,” Shenandoah, 18 (Autumn, 1968), p. 65.
  • “As I Dined Out,” Poetry Northwest, 7, 4 (Winter, 1966–67), p. 19.
  • “My Father Came to Collins Avenue,” “Trotting Around,” Kayak, 10 (1967) p. 31-33.
  • “Bike Ride,” “Blue with Blue,” Lillabulero, 2 (Winter, 1968), p. 3-4.
  • “Sunny Engines,” Poetry Northwest, 9 (Spring, 1968), p. 29-30.
  • “On Hearing the Vietnamese Poet Nhat Hanh,” Kayak, 15 (1968), p. 36-37.
  • “The Sacrifice of Great Lovers,” Westside Poetry Center 2, Los Angeles, (1969) p. 27-28.
  • “Looking for Chairs,” “Big Sur River,” Lillabulero, 8 (Winter, 1970).
  • “The Whiteness I’ve Been Looking For,” “Many of Us,” Tennessee Poetry Journal, 4 (Fall, 1970), p. 17-18.
  • “Drinking Milk,” Shenandoah, 22 (Winter, 1971), p. 65.
  • “The Leaves the People,” Lillabulero, 10 & 11 (1971), p. 48.
  • “The War Continues on My Daughter’s First Birthday,” Kayak, 27 (1971), p. 15.
  • “The Ground” North American Review, 256, 3 (Fall, 1971), p. 50.
  • “There’s a Wire,” Seneca Review, 2 (December, 1971), 1p. 3.
  • “Fog in the Neighborhood,” Madrona, 2 (Fall, 1971), p. 13.
  • “The Journey with Hands and Arms,” Artifax, 1 (October,1971), p. 14-15.
  • “I Think of My Daughter’s Birth,” The Iowa Review, 3(1) (Winter, 1972), p. 18.
  • “Spaces,” Artifax, 2 (March, 1972), p. 3-5.
  • “The Fathers,” North American Review, 257, 2 (Summer, 1972), p. 30.
  • “To the Animals: Goat,” Bachy, 1 (Summer, 1972), p. 12.
  • “I’ll Be There,” Artifax, 2 (October, 1972), p. 24-25.
  • “The Death of Rubin Salazar,” Café Solo, (Spring, 1972), p. 30.
  • “Germany,” “Privilege,” “Berryman,” Psychological Perspectives, 4 (Spring, 1973), p. 80-81.
  • “Venice Beach Prose,” St. Andrews Review, 2 (Spring, 1974), p. 243.
  • “Assembly for the Death of Rooming Houses,” Ohio Review, 15 (Spring, 1974), p. 65.
  • “Homescape,” Massachusetts Review, 15 (Autumn, 1974), p. 65.
  • “Winters and Winters,” Perspective, 17 (Spring, 1975), p. 256-257.
  • “In the Country,” “The Art of Kurt Gerron,” Invisible City, 18-20 (October, 1976), p. 8.
  • “Snowpath,” Ironwood, 4 (1976), p. 94.
  • “Deck: King of Clubs,” Poetry Northwest, 19 (Spring, 1976), p. 23.
  • “Fourteen Poems from Deck,” Bachy, 11 (1978), p. 56-62.
  • “Deck: Five of Diamonds,” Ironwood, 6 (1978), p. 76.
  • “The Moth,” “Ponies During the Tujunga Fire,” “Only the Dark Green Tree,” “The Miscarriage,” Beyond Baroque, 10 (Summer, 1979), p. 22-23.
  • “A Good Brick House in Wood County,” “Taking the Body Back,” Gramercy Review, 3 (Winter, 1979), p. 48-49.
  • “Like Peaches,” “A Cool Place,” “Grass Where the Dead Walk Quietly,” “Cauliflower,” “Forgiveness During a Walk on Prospect Street,” “Killing a Bird on the Way to Toledo,” Bachy, 17 (1980), p. 92-94.
  • “The Sun Takes Us Away,” Southern Poetry Review, 22 (Spring, 1982), p. 2.
  • “Neutral Zone,” “Always Toward Evening,” Epoch, 33 (Spring, 1983) p. 244-245.
  • “Shadows,” “The Frail Old Men from California,” Chiaroscuro, 3 (1983), p. 96-99.
  • “The Purchase,” Poetry Northwest, 24 (Winter, 1984), p. 34.
  • “The Old Jewish Cemetery in Boyle Heights,” Shirim, 3 (Spring, 1984), p. 34.
  • “My People,” “Documentary,” Cumberland Poetry Review, 3 (Spring, 1984), p. 34.
  • “The Russian Movie,” Hudson Review, 37 (Summer, 1984), p. 261.
  • “Bert Meyers,” Shirim, (Spring, 1985), p. 30.
  • “Cloudy and Isaac,” (six sections), Poetry/LA, 13 (Fall/Winter 1986–87), p. 67-71.
  • “Moving Day,” Shirim, (Fall, 1986), p. 25.
  • “Going Away,” Event, 17 (Spring, 1988), p. 39.
  • "Taxis at Jaffa Gate,” Shirim.
  • “The Summer Drowning,” Pembroke Magazine, 20 (1988), p. 247.
  • “Cloudy and Isaac,” Poet Lore, 84 (Spring, 1989), p. 5-22.
  • “Always the Falls,” Pikestaff Forum. “Trashcans on Tunney,” “Plans for Departure,” “Goodbye Sorrow,” Poetry/LA 20 (Spring/Summer 1990), p. 13-15.
  • “Living at the Mall,” “Yogurt,” “Homage to My City,” Bakunin, 1 (Fall,1990), p. 7-9.
  • “Contributor’s Note, 1988,” Slant, 4 (1990), p. 109.
  • “The Way to San Onofre,” Southern Poetry Review, 30, no.2 (Fall, 1990) p. 54-55.
  • “A Few Days in Ward B,” “The Greenhouse Effect Reaches the Environmental Agency,” Poetry Northwest, 31, no. 4 (Winter,, 1990–91), p. 13-15.
  • “The Laundry,” Mississippi Review, 19, no. 3 (Spring, 1991), p. 145-146.
  • “Downtown Time,” Asylum, 7, 3-4 (Fall, 1991), p. 172.
  • “Mandelstam,” “My Mother’s Dutch Fireplace in Pennsylvania,” “Jewish,” “He Wins a Prize,” “Jerusalem Captured,” “Offering of Chickens,” “Indian Silver,” “Cleaning the Alley,” “Two Bird Poems,” Shirim, 10, 2 (December, 1991), p. 17.
  • “The Bungee Jumpers,” Aethlon: The Journal of Sport Literature, 8, 2 (Spring, 1992), p. 21-22.
  • “Bodhisattva in Anger,” Poet Lore, 87, 2 (Summer, 1992), p. 21-22.
  • “Myself as a House,” Negative Capability, 11, 1&2 (1992), p. 194-95.
  • “Cleaning the Alley at Last,” “Mirror for My Daughters,” Café Solo, 10, 1, 2, &3 (Fall, 1992), p. 10-11.
  • “The Sentence: ‘I Am Dead Without You’,” Santa Monica Review, 5, 1 (Fall, 1992), p. 142-144.

References and notes

  1. ↑ "Benjamin Saltman". Red Hen Press. 14 February 2020. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  2. ↑ CSUN List of Deceased Faculty csun.edu. Retrieved on 2010-07-15
  3. ↑ "Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award". Red Hen Press. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  4. ↑ Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award Archived August 30, 2009, at the Wayback Machine pw.org. Retrieved on 2009-07-13
  5. 1 2 3 4 Saltman, Benjamin (2021). A Termite Memoir. San Luis Obispo, California: Phoenix Press. pp. 175, 215, 239. ISBN 978-1-71751-769-2.
  6. ↑ Platt, Joseph B. (1994). Harvey Mudd College : the first twenty years. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Fithian Press. ISBN 1-56474-100-1.
  7. ↑ The Libraries of The Claremont Colleges, 2005 Claremont University Consortium
  8. ↑ NEA Literature Fellowships Archived 2009-06-12 at the Wayback Machine, Page 43. Retrieved on 2009-07-13.
  9. ↑ "Sorry, You Can't Teach for Free", Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug 1992.
  10. ↑ "Professors' Volunteer Offer Rejected", Los Angeles Times, 22 Aug 1992.
  11. ↑ "New Law Allows Retiring CSUN Professors to Teach for Free", Los Angeles Times, 10 September 1992.
  12. ↑ Bhagavad-Gita : the song of God. Swami Prabhavananda, Christopher Isherwood, Aldous Huxley. New York. 2002. ISBN 0-451-52844-1. OCLC 50256843.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  13. ↑ Swami Prabhavananda, The Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta (Allen & Unwin, 1964), Page 6.
  14. ↑ Saltman, Benjamin (1965). "What Vedanta Means to Me". Vedanta and the West. 176: 7–10 – via Vedanta Society of Southern California.
  15. ↑ Saltman, Benjamin (1974). The leaves the people. Red Hill Press; distributed by Serendipity Books, Berkeley, Calif.] OCLC 1264476.
  16. ↑ Saltman, Benjamin (1979). Deck. Ithaca, N.Y.: Ithaca House. ISBN 0-87886-107-6. OCLC 5564468.
  17. ↑ Saltman, Benjamin (1992). The book of moss : poems. San Luis Obispo, Calif.: Garden Street Press. ISBN 0-9633481-0-8. OCLC 26885633.
  18. ↑ Saltman, Benjamin (1996). The sun takes us away : new and selected poems, 1968–1996 (1st ed.). Palmdale, Calif.: Red Hen Press/Valentine Pub. Group. ISBN 0-9639528-7-0. OCLC 35722737.
  19. ↑ Saltman, Benjamin (1999). Sleep and death the dream. Red Hen Press. Palmdale, California. ISBN 1-888996-13-7. OCLC 45219911.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  20. ↑ Saltman, Benjamin (2018). Alone with everyone : the uncollected poems. San Luis Obispo, California. ISBN 978-1-986602-29-7. OCLC 1084735403.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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