I Found My Master (Robinson Jeffers)
FRANCES: Was your poetry as strong from the very beginning?
EVERSON: No. I found Jeffers, and that’s what made the difference. There’s kind of a shift in the center of gravity within the self when you find your master. Everything that happened before … you’re rubbing your head … and suddenly you find out what it’s supposed to sound like.
FRANCES: Did you ever meet him?
EVERSON: Best thing I ever did was not to meet Jeffers. It wouldn’t have worked. He hated disciples and I couldn’t go as anything less. [Pause.] When you meet your master, you bring too much to bear. You have him on a pedestal and he can never … they become impatient with you. He doesn’t want to bother with … you’re too naive. When these young college kids come to me, for instance, make a master out of me, I find myself kind of brushing them off.
FRANCES: You never brushed me off.
EVERSON: Yeah but you didn’t come to me as a master. So that’s the difference.
FRANCES: I don’t do that with anybody. But I recognized you.
EVERSON: We recognized each other.