Landis Everson (October 5, 1926 – November 17, 2007) was an

American poet The poets listed below were either born in the United States or else published much of their poetry while living in that country. A B C D E F G H I–J K L M N O P Q *George Quasha (born 1942 in poetry, 1942) R ...

. In the late 1940s, he was a member of the

Berkeley Renaissance The term San Francisco Renaissance is used as a global designation for a range of poetic activity centered on San Francisco, which brought it to prominence as a hub of the American poetry avant-garde in the 1950s. However, others (e.g., Alan Watts ...

along with his friends Robert Duncan,

Jack Spicer Jack Spicer (January 30, 1925 – August 17, 1965) was an American poet often identified with the San Francisco Renaissance. In 2009, ''My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer'' won the American Book Award for poetry. ...

, and

Robin Blaser Robin Francis Blaser (May 18, 1925 – May 7, 2009) was an American-born Canadian playwright, poet, and translator. Personal background Born in Denver, Colorado, Blaser grew up in Idaho, and came to Berkeley, California, in 1944. There he met Ja ...

. Everson was the inaugural recipient of the Emily Dickinson Award from the

Poetry Foundation The Poetry Foundation is a United States literary society that seeks to promote poetry and lyricism in the wider culture. It was formed from ''Poetry'' magazine, which it continues to publish, with a 2003 gift of $200 million from philanthrop ...

Overview

Everson was born and grew up in

Coronado, California Coronado (Spanish language, Spanish for "Crowned") is a resort town, resort city in San Diego County, California, United States, across San Diego Bay from downtown San Diego. It was founded in the 1880s and incorporated in 1890. Its population ...

. He attended the

University of Redlands The University of Redlands is a private university in Redlands, California, United States. The university's main, residential campus is situated on 160 acres (65 ha) near downtown Redlands. An additional eight regional locations throughout Calif ...

in Southern California. Everson, Spicer, and Blaser participated in a poetry group that met on Sundays up until 1960. Duncan was excluded from this group. Around this time James Herndon published Everson's pamphlet ''Postcard from Eden''. His work also appeared in

John Ashbery John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...

Harry Mathews Harry Mathews (February 14, 1930 – January 25, 2017) was an American writer, the author of various novels, volumes of poetry and short fiction, and essays. Mathews was also a translator of the French language. Life Born in New York City to an ...

's ''Locus Solus'' in 1962. Jack Spicer died in 1965; Robin Blaser moved to

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

; and Everson stopped writing poetry. The

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

poet

Ben Mazer Ben Mazer (born 1964 in New York City) is an American poet and editor. Life Mazer was born in New York City and raised in the Cambridge, Massachusetts area. He studied under Seamus Heaney and William Alfred at Harvard University. Following grad ...

came across Everson's work while putting together a special feature on the Berkeley Renaissance for

Fulcrum A fulcrum (: fulcra or fulcrums) is the support about which a lever pivots. Fulcrum may also refer to: Companies and organizations * Fulcrum (Anglican think tank), a Church of England think tank * Fulcrum Press, a British publisher of poetry * Fu ...

. Mazer's interest encouraged Everson to start writing poetry again. His collection, ''Everything Preserved: Poems 1955-2005'' (), edited by Mazer, was published in 2006. This volume collects the poems Everson wrote in his two periods of writing: between 1955 and 1960, and between 2003 and 2005. Toward the end of his life, Everson lived in

San Luis Obispo, California ; ; ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway betwee ...

Death and legacy

The initial reports of Everson's death were shrouded in mystery. Marin County wire services reported that it was an apparent suicide using a World War Two standard-issue service revolver.''Marin Independent Journal'' website
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References

External links

Jacket (magazine) ''Jacket'' was an online literary periodical founded by the Australian poet John Tranter, published from 1997-2010. The first issue was in October 1997. Until 2010, each new number of the magazine was posted at the website piece by piece unti ...

Landis Everson 1926-2007
A "cyber-

tombeau A tombeau (plural tombeaux) is a musical composition (earlier, in the early 16th century, a poem) commemorating the death of a notable individual. The term derives from the French word for "tomb" or "tombstone". The vast majority of tombeaux date f ...

" at ''Silliman's Blog'' by poet

Ron Silliman Ron Silliman (born August 5, 1946) is an American poet. He has written and edited over 30 books, and has had his poetry and criticism translated into 12 languages. He is often associated with language poetry. Between 1979 and 2004, Silliman w ...

includes comments, tributes, and links American male poets 1926 births 2007 deaths 20th-century American poets 20th-century American male writers {{US-poet-1920s-stub