The Integral Years: Poems 1966-1994 (Everson, William, Crooked Lines of God, V. 3,)

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Summary: William Everson: A Life Trilogy
Review: The Integral Years is the third volume of The Crooked Lines of God: A Life Trilogy, the collected poems of William Everson. Each of the three volumes reflects a major stage in the life of the poet and the thematic nature of his verses. Everson, who was known as "the poet of the San Joaquin," died at his home on Kingfisher Flat in Santa Cruz County, California, in June 1994. He left behind 52 books of poetry and 10 books of prose. He was a member of the Dominican Order of monks between 1951 and 1969, writing poetry and giving public readings of his verse as Brother Antoninus. Time magazine referred to him as the "Beat Friar" during this period, though Everson was not, strictly speaking, a member of the Beat Generation literary movement. According to Stanford's Albert Gelpi, however, Everson was "the greatest religious poet of the second half of the twentieth century." Everson's "A Canticle to the Waterbirds" is a masterpiece of religious verse and puts Everson on a plane with Francis Thompson and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Everson's "religious verse" is published in Volume 2 of the trilogy, The Veritable Years.

Everson's early poetry was highly secular and pantheistic. Much of it was written under the influence of Robinson Jeffers, whom Everson regarded as a mentor. The early poems are contained in Volume 1, The Residual Years.

Everson left religious life in 1969 to return to the secular world and marry Susanna Rickson, his third wife. Everson's later poems, published in this volume, show his maturation as a poet and a man. He has returned to nature, and much of his verse is both confessional and erotic.

The three volumes of the trilogy were actually planned by Everson during his life time and carried through to completion posthumously by the dedicated work of Allan Campo and Bill Hotchkiss, lifelong friends of the poet who edited the collection. They also collected Everson's unpublished verse and uncollected poems, which are published in the volumes as appendixes.