Overview

The verses in this book were written in re-creational moments of reflection, whether on specific incidents or on constants of existence perceived in particular places under unique circumstances. They aim to preserve and convey some vestige of these revelatory experiences. They strive to raise the attendant illuminations into a heightened consciousness that opens upon the universal relatedness of all with all. Most were composed in suspended real time of scribbling in a pocketbook as the events recounted were actually unfolding. Thematic content ranges widely from transformative human encounters to ecstatic communion with nature, from metaphysical intuitions and philosophical reflections to searing contemplation of the doubtful destiny of humankind. Discovering the exotic in far-flung reaches of the globe, as well as probing interior sensibilities, and celebrating original creation of several unique home environments, the poems capture a wide range of poignant life experiences that are fine-tuned to resonate with whatever, wherever, and whoever readers are.

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Reviews

""William Franke incarnates time into memory, remaking the earthy passions into a grace as pure as one shed tear before the boundary line dissolves. We are transfigured by his wayfaring spirit and experience the kind of recollection that remains forever morning because it encloses the ancient yearning. This is a work of consummate tending, for it is the beauty of time as passageway and passenger, of the once was, the never again, and the always will be, a gift of all love."" --Caitlin Smith Gilson, Professor of Philosophy, St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary ""Language, for William Franke, is an intensely material part of existence, and yet the abstract quality of words distorts the immediate quality of our contact with the world. In The Thoughtful Muse, this concern with what separates words from 'the unknown and unfathomable' propels him into philosophical and theological explorations of the spiritual. The collection offers numinous poems about truth learned with the mind but set free through the senses attuned to time, memory, nature, death, Eros, and the will to imagination."" --Dominique Hecq, Winner of the James Tate Prize for Poetry and Best Poets Prize from the International Poetry Translation and Research Centre and International Academy of Arts and Letters ""Hölderlin famously wrote that 'poets establish what remains.' What remains sayable of life's winding and uncertain itinerary? Or what remains unsayable despite the most attentive crafting of language? William Franke's poetry establishes both senses of 'what remains.' These poems provide a poignant glimpse of the intimate questions, dreams, pleasures, and devastations that make up an ordinary life lived with extraordinary attentiveness. In the insistence of what remains, language and life find their source and limit."" --Peter Kline, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, St. Francis College, University of Divinity

Author Information

William Franke is a philosopher of the humanities and a professor of comparative literature at Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tennessee). The author of numerous books at the intersection of literature, philosophy, and theology, he lectures and gives seminars on his apophatic philosophy--with a focus on the revelatory power of poetic language--in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish on five continents.

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