Br. Paul Quenon

Unquiet Vigil

Br. Paul Quenon

Br. Paul Quenon, OSCO, has assembled a collection of his poems seasoned through five decades of living a monastic life. These are litanies of life, work, patience, love and prayer.
“These poems pinpoint the tensions inherent in a spiritual life. The self must be present and yet the self must be willing to be negated. One seeks knowledge but also freedom from knowledge. One must be at home with what is said through silence. These are some of the mysteries of faith and the words of these poems invite me into them. By reading, we partake of these words and much more. It is a joy to have this book.” -Maurice Manning, author of The Common Man, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in poetry, and The Gone and the Going Away
“The poems of Unquiet Vigil rise out of a more intense experience of reality, evoke aspects of that reality not universally acknowledged, and re-express them in exquisite and economical language.” -Michael Casey, OCSO, author of Stranger to the City
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 has been publishing poems and photographs for the last twenty years.