(R. and I went to Carmel a few weeks ago for a long weekend to celebrate his birthday – and it gave me an idea for two entries in my new book. I’ll post the second one tomorrow.)

From 1920 to 1924, Robinson Jeffers built a stone tower with his own hands for his beloved wife Una who adored the stone towers of Ireland. The tower Jeffers built was next to their cottage, Tor House, in Carmel, California, and he hauled the stones himself up from the beach every afternoon after he worked on his poems in the morning.  The granite stones, boulders really, some weighing over 300 pounds, are a perfect metaphor for writing, and being a stonemason is perhaps the perfect day job for a poet.

When answering a questionnaire that asked, What distinguishes you from the ordinary man? Jeffers wrote, “Nothing essential; a little specialization.”