Poetry, Supper, Jeffers, a Lighthouse, and You!

Simon Hunt · #1 03-23-2015, 01:19 PM

Who doesn't like at least three of the things listed in the subject line?

As I have in past years, I want to let you know about an excellent event that I will be participating in this May. This year it falls on Saturday, May 2.

That evening, the Robinson Jeffers Tor House Foundation, the Central Coast Lighthouse Keepers, and the California State Parks will be co-sponsoring "Robinson Jeffers at Point Sur" (Point Sur is situated between Carmel and Big Sur on Highway 1 and is best known for its striking Light Station--and for Jeffers having written about it).

The evening will run from 6-10 p.m. and will cost $25. I have participated three times in analogous events, so I can say with some confidence that the itinerary will be like this (with editorial comments):

1) walking tour of the lighthouse accompanied by a docent and a poet. ("Lighthouse" honestly doesn't do it justice... The Point Sur Light Station is a historic facility on an astonishingly beautiful rock above the Big Sur coast. It's like being on a sort of enchanted island in the sky...). The docent provides the history and culture of the Light Station. The poet will give readings of selected Robinson Jeffers poems, with special emphasis on poems of the Big Sur landscape.

2) picnic dinner (bring your own).

3) reading of more Jeffers poems in the facility's barn (really a small auditorium, a rustic room right over the Pacific...)

4) reading of the 3 poets' own work in the same barn (the three poets who will accompany walking groups, read Jeffers, and then read their own poems are Laura Courtney Headley, Simon Hunt, and George Lober. You may have your doubts about the middle one, but I can vouch for the other two...)

5) walk back down from the Light Station to the parking area in the light of the full moon...

See you there? Plan to dress warmly, and PM me if you'd like me to give you the phone number for reservations.

[Precedent suggests that Janice will respond to this thread by noting the passing of another year, the arrival of another spring. Indeed, Janice...

And where are the light houses of yesteryear? Well, one of them is on the Central California coast... You could be, too, if you start planning now. Why not this year?]

Bill Carpenter · #2 03-26-2015, 07:24 PM

Sounds great, Simon. On the forking path of my life as a northern Californian, I'd be right there. Did I tell you I officed down the hall from James Karman? Say hello to him for me when you cross paths. Have a wonderful time, Bill

Janice D. Soderling · #3 03-28-2015, 09:47 AM

Ha, ha, Simon, you are quite right. I would have probably been my usual doddering self and made the usual doddering comment.

I'll content myself with popping this up so it will get some weekend attention.

I'm sure (also this year) it will be a fine event.

Simon Hunt · #4 03-29-2015, 12:19 PM

Thanks, Bill. I see JK a couple times a year and regard him as a great fellow. He has a kindness and sweetness about him which (in my experience) are fairly rare among accomplished scholars of the academy. Anyway, I shall certainly pass along your greeting.

Thanks, Janice--and sorry for the "doddering" implication, which I did not intend. In fact, I think there's great value in the rituals that acknowledge time passing. I'm very grateful, for example, that I have been invited to these events for the last several years in a row. And I remain hopeful that some visitor here at Eratosphere will one day find his/her way to a poetry event on the lovely western outpost where I live...