Amounting to Nothing: Poems (Paraclete Poetry) - Softcover

Quenon Ocso, Br. Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1640602011 ISBN 13: 9781640602014

Publisher: Paraclete Press, 2019

Synopsis

After 60 years at Gethsemani Abbey, Br. Paul follows up his recent memoir, In Praise of the Useless Life, with a poetic collection that shows how to do just that – by writing poetry. 
 
Amounting to Nothing is both practical and metaphysical, a puzzling over the ultimate things of life, and a descending on the Benedictine ladder of humility to the earthly creatures surrounding a Kentucky monastery. This is less an exploration in self-knowledge than a forgetting of self in the wonders of everything. Quenon treads bare footed on the margins of mortality and immortality, with wit, thought, and hope.
 

About this title

About the Author

Born in West Virginia, Br. Paul Quenon, OCSO, entered the Trappists in 1958 at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, where Thomas Merton was his Novice Master. He is the author of many poetry collections including Unquiet Vigil, and a recent memoir, In Praise of the Useless Life.
 

Review

“The beautiful spirits hovering about these poems include Robert Lax, Father Matthew Kelty, Meister Eckhart, and, yes, Thomas Merton. The poems themselves are pure Paul Quenon—playful, questioning, meditative, suffused with joy and wonder at the mystery of creation. His readers will come away quietly amazed, lit up like the stars.”
-Frederick Smock, Professor of English, Bellarmine University
 
“This volume is the zenith of a contemplative’s artistry. Quenon paints in words in a counter-cultural tour de force, gobsmacking us with the sapiential wisdom of the ages, its creatures and Creator, cosmic and terrestrial. He riffs, chants, riddles, and jests in tones of darkness, solitude, and reflection with all the continuity of a broken line, alluding to the mentors of his widely-read and long-lived consciousness and finding the Eternal in ‘what slips between the in and out of the breath.’”
-Lynn R. Szabo, Professor of English, Trinity Western University; editor of In the Dark Before Dawn: New Selected Poems of Thomas Merton
 
“These are poems of deep attention, meditative, contemplative, mischievous and metaphysical works threading the inner life with the outer world. They interweave words and silences, channeling the spirit of Merton, Dickinson, Rilke, King David along with robin song, whirlwind, thunder and prayer, resulting in both a comprehensive study of everything and a celebration of the beauty of nothing.”
-John B. Lee, poet, winner of the 1995 CBC/Tilden Award for Poetry
 
“There is an incisive yet tender wisdom in Paul Quenon’s new poems, ancient markings for modern pilgrims, aphoristic insights that offer oxygen for the longing soul, a beauty that allures and whispers come and see, sit and dine, drink, and slake a deeper thirst.”
-Ron Dart, author, university professor, and mountaineer

Edition details

• Publisher: Paraclete Press
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1640602011
• ISBN 13: 9781640602014
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 96