Talk:William Everson (poet)

Man-Fate, Marriage and Parkinson's
I had the privilege of hearing Everson read at the Portland Poetry Fetival back in, oh, 1981 or so, and also again at another reading in Vancouver some years later. At both he told the story of Man-Fate and how it came to be written; I was surprised not to see that important volume in his work not listed, so I added it. I'd like to add in a quip that he used at both his readings - apparently part of his regular "schtick" - "Three years after I left orders and took a young wife, I was stricken with Parkinson's Disease...(twitch, shudder, shake a while, then chuckle)...shows what happens when you break a vow with God." Cool stuff but I don't have a print citation; anyone who's heard the man read has heard this or something like it. I've got a copy of The Masks of Drought here somewhere, so will add it to the list when I find it.Skookum1 15:43, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Excellent additions to the entry. I will also try to track down a print citation to this quote. I have access to quite a few Everson materials. Keep up the great editing! Also, do you know if any photos exist of W.E. that are in the public domain? Asedzie 21:55, 29 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Nope; sorry; my photograph of him is graven into my gray cells, with his eyes peering across at me from his desk at UCSC (long story). Hopefully a print cite for that quote, or a paraphrase of it, can be found.  The other big-voice reader at Portland that year was Philip Levine; I was under the impression he'd hunkered down with Everson at some point during the Fest but I don't know if there might be anything in his memoirs/autobio, if he has one.  I heard him read again in Vancouver BC a few years later and he had the same schtick, so it must have been recorded somewhere.  He also read some Robinson Jeffers that day, which was very awe-inspiring (partly because he was in awe of Jeffers' poems himself).Skookum1 04:25, 30 April 2006 (UTC)


 * A further aside; I just saw the category added "death's from Parkinson's disease"...another of Everson's items of performance shtick comes to mind. Speaking of his disease (after a particularly long and convulsive shudder-session during which he had to step back from the microphone, then shuffled forward after gaining enough control to say the following): "It gets familiar, kind of like an old friend after a while - it's with me all the time.  I won't die of it, but I'll die with it".  I'm not sure of his exact cause of death, i.e. if it was the Parkinson's as such or a secondary effect resulting from it; he didn't seem to think it would be the source of his demise; or would joke about it at any rate.Skookum1 04:46, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

Those are some really great stories. I'd be interested to hear more, if you can pass them along. Everson is a fascination of mine. One interesting thing that you might want to look into: I think that Everson was more ambivalent towards Jeffers'poetry than is commonly recognized. If you read the introduction to either The Excesses of God or Fragments of an Older Fury (I can't remember which right now), Everson states that Jeffers' poetry was the catalyst for a first quasi-religious conversion, and he acknowledges himself to be a disciple of Jeffers, but he says that he had developed a distaste (maybe bitterness might be a better way to phrase it) towards Jeffers' work. Of course, this was from the standpoint of an Everson that was a mature poet and thinker. I guess you could say that it might have been part of his Veritable Years phase or his Integral Years phase. It might also be that this was something like the "Pact" that Pound made with Whitman. Nevertheless, it is an interesting caveat to the straight telling of any Everson bio.Asedzie 09:42, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

The Masks Of Drought 1980
Finally found my copy in my messy office/apartment.....it's water damaged or would have been sold with the rest of my poetry collection months ago. Beautiful stuff....any Everson fans out there want to bribe it away from me?Skookum1 16:10, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

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