Herschel Silverman, born on April 17, 1926 and died September 19, 2015, he was an American “Beat” poet.
The most important influence on his writing would have been Allen Ginsberg, but he was also connected to the Deep image school of poetry and close to Theodore Enslin.
Herschel received the New Jersey Council of Arts Fellowship in Poetry.
Born in New York, Herschel was raised in California until he was orphaned at age seven, when he was sent to Jersey City to live with his aunt and grandmother.
He served in World War II as a cook and in the Korean War in 1952.
Until its closure in 1984, Herschel ran a Bayonne, New Jersey, candy store, called Hersch’s Beehive, to provide for his family, while writing hundreds of (published) Beat poems.
He also painted and printed poetry chapbooks and pamphlets on the side.
Herschel continued to read and write new poetry well into his eighties.
He was well known in the New York City Beat scene and was a regular at the Bowery Poetry club and other various Beat venues.
Herschel married Laura Rothschild in 1945. They had two children. Laura died in early 1988.
Herschel Silverman died on September 19, 2015. He was 89.