The house where the poet Robinson Jeffers lived, in Carmel.
"After marrying in 1913, Jeffers moved to Carmel, California, and in 1919 he began building a stone cottage on land overlooking Carmel Bay and facing Point Lobos. Near the cottage, Jeffers built a forty-foot stone tower. Both the structure and the location figure strongly in Jeffers's life and poetry."
Mike, having done some past work using the poetry of Mr. Jeffers, decided to drive by the Jeffers' residence. The property is now owned by a non-profit organization, and tours are offered, but not when Mike was scheduled to be there. Although the quaint Carmel streets can be somewhat confusing, Mike was able to locate the spot without too much trouble.
In Mike's imagination, this would be a wild and desolate location, suitable for Jeffers to compose his poems celebrating the natural beauty of the Big Sur coast. Alas, maybe it was, at one time, but now it's part and parcel of a tidy Carmel neighborhood featuring million dollar homes.
*****
Jeffers' biography, from which the above quote has been taken, can be found at Poets.org.
Tor House Foundation web site.
Mike's Jeffers portfolios published by James Linden: Apology for Bad Dreams and Shine, Perishing Republic.
Photographs: Tor House─Monterey County, 2011; Hawk Tower─Monterey County, 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment