Brother Paul Quenon, OCSO, Trappist monk, poet, and photographer, is the author of books like In Praise of the Useless Life: A Monk's Memoir and Unquiet Vigil: New and Selected Poems. He returned to Encountering Silence for a conversation recorded last April (to hear his previous conversations on this podcast, click here and here). This time, he offers a fascinating conversation drawing lines of connection between the monk's experience of cloistered solitude and the challenges that the public at large has faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

I think there's something within everybody that really wants to have quiet time... There's something about the heart that thirsts for that kind of quiet and silence. — Br. Paul Quenon, OCSO
Brother Paul entered monastic life in 1958, when he was only 17 years old — back before the reforms of the Second Vatical Council, when the life of a Trappist was even more austere than it is today. His novice master turned out to be Thomas Merton, who eventually became an inspiration to Brother Paul not only as a monk, but as a writer.

Here's a video of Brother Paul reading one of his poems, from our conversation this year:

https://vimeo.com/413749815
A habit can be a very supportive thing, a routine can be a deadening thing a ritual should always be a vital thing and should always be done mindfully. — Brother Paul Quenon, OCSO
Some of the resources and authors mentioned in this episode:

Paul Quenon, In Praise of the Useless Life: A Monk's Memoir
Paul Quenon, Unquiet Vigil: New and Selected Poems
Paul Quenon, Bells of the Hours
Paul Quenon, Afternoons with Emily
Paul Quenon, Monkswear
Paul Quenon, Laughter: My Purgatory
Paul Quenon, Terrors of Paradise
Paul Quenon with Judith Valente and Michael Bever, The Art of Pausing
Thomas Merton, Essential Writings
Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude
Greg Hillis, Bodhisattva
Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems, edited by Thomas H. Johnson
Marty Gervais, Nine Lives: A Reunion in Paris
Wallace Stevens, The Collected Poems
T.S. Eliot, The Complete Poems and Plays
Ignatius of Loyola, Personal Writings

In a monastery you're living in a poetic environment, and the countryside that we live in, I think it exposes the mind to open up to poetry. — Br. Paul Quenon, OCSO
Episode 110: Silence, Poetry, and Monastic Wisdom: A Conversation with Brother Paul Quenon, OCSO (Part One)
Hosted by: Cassidy Hall
With: Carl McColman and Kevin Johnson
Guest: Br. Paul Quenon, OCSO
Date Recorded: April 30, 2020