George, Charley, 1941-

American poet educated at the University of Colorado and active in the Boulder, Colo., scene during the 1970s. George died suddenly in 1988.

From the description of Papers, 1959-1990. (University of California, San Diego). WorldCat record id: 33813780

Biography

Born in Pennsylvania, Charley George grew up on a farm, served in the navy, and graduated from the University of Colorado. Throughout the 1970s, George was active in the Boulder poetry scene during a period that saw Jack Collom, Allen Ginsberg, Reed Bye, and others in residence. He gave readings, taught creative writing, wrote plays, and was published in over forty magazines. George's chapbook of poems, A MORE, was published in 1975.

Early on, George worked as a financial analyst for IBM, and later entered the retail jewelry industry, eventually becoming manager of the jewelry salon for Neiman-Marcus in San Francisco. Thoughout this period, he continued to write. Suddenly, in November of 1988, Charley George died of a heart attack at the age of 47.

George's sensitive and straightforwardly written pieces are undeniably American in tone and subject. As Carl Rakosi points out in his introduction of George's SUNDAY'S ENDING TOO SOON, George's poems are "extraordinarily free and natural, yet elegant...... look vaguely like haikus; but the language is more bold and speedy and there are interesting disjunctions that leap ahead and do not affect the clarity."

From the guide to the Charley George Papers, 1959-1990, (University of California, San Diego. Geisel Library. Mandeville Special Collections Library.)