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THE RESIDUAL YEARS by William Everson

THE RESIDUAL YEARS

By

Pub Date: Oct. 31st, 1968
Publisher: New directions

This collects between covers all of William Everson's poetry from 1934-1948 before he became (in 1951) Brother Antoninus; his The Residual Years which first appeared on this list in 1948 as well as subsequent poems in limited editions. Everson's life has been varied; he married twice, owned a vineyard in the San Joaquin Valley, and was involved in publishing two avant garde magazines. These early poems reflect the depression years as well as his own personal dichotomy--between a life of the senses and the inclination toward some superior spiritual power. His descriptions of landscapes and physical love are lush and self-revealing--a sensuous poetry even in the use of images and words which presage clearly how he evolved, as Brother Antoninus, into a religious poet who is also an ""unprecedented exponent of erotic mysticism.