Career
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. Silverman received the New Jersey Council of Arts Fellowship in Poetry. He served in World World War II as a cook and in the Korean War in 1952.
Until its closure in 1984, Silverman 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. Silverman 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.