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Jonathan Greene is not only the
author of several Broadstone Books, but as
the designer of all of our titles and our
mentor in all matters of publishing, he is a
major creative contributor to all that we do.
We are proud to present the works on this
page.
author of several Broadstone Books, but as
the designer of all of our titles and our
mentor in all matters of publishing, he is a
major creative contributor to all that we do.
We are proud to present the works on this
page.
Photo by Dobree Adams
HEART MATTERS
Poems by
JONATHAN GREENE
Collecting Greene's poetry written since Fault Lines, this
verse indeed surveys the matters closest to his heart,
including both the personal and, increasingly, the social
and political. In language spare but never sparse, he
opens our hearts along with his own.
"Greene's poems are flawless." Ron Silliman
"There is a lyric delight in the world that informs all of
Greene's poetry, from man's pratfalls to the occasions of
moment. There is a human face staring at us from these
pages - yours, mine - one that has Greene chuckling or
rapt, our heads nodding alongside or shaking with the
sweet peccadilloes our nature permits" J. W. Bonner
Published 2008, 144 pages
Paperback
ISBN 978-0-9802117-0-2
$17.50
Poems by
JONATHAN GREENE
Collecting Greene's poetry written since Fault Lines, this
verse indeed surveys the matters closest to his heart,
including both the personal and, increasingly, the social
and political. In language spare but never sparse, he
opens our hearts along with his own.
"Greene's poems are flawless." Ron Silliman
"There is a lyric delight in the world that informs all of
Greene's poetry, from man's pratfalls to the occasions of
moment. There is a human face staring at us from these
pages - yours, mine - one that has Greene chuckling or
rapt, our heads nodding alongside or shaking with the
sweet peccadilloes our nature permits" J. W. Bonner
Published 2008, 144 pages
Paperback
ISBN 978-0-9802117-0-2
$17.50
ON THE BANKS OF MONKS POND:
THE THOMAS MERTON / JONATHAN GREENE
CORRESPONDENCE
"A wonderful gift."
- Brother Patrick Hart, General Editor, The Journals of
Thomas Merton
"...a delightful, beautifully produced little volume detailing
the involvement of the poet and publisher Jonathan Greene
with Thomas Merton and his participation with the
publication of Monks Pond. It is a book of interest to
Merton aficionados, to followers of new movements and
trends in poetry, creative writing, and printing, and to
many others."
- Paul M. Pearson, Merton Center, Bellarmine University
This is a book that might well begin, "Once upon a
time...and a place." The time, 1967 and 1968, a period of
now mythic cultural significance; the place, central
Kentucky, from all appearances far from the epicenters of
that cultural upheaval. Yet it was then and there that
Jonathan Greene, a young poet and fledgling publisher
from New York City by way of California, met Thomas
Merton. The result was the tragically brief friendship and
literary collaboration that is celebrated in this volume.
Greene's introductory memoir sets the scene, describing
the unexpectedly rich intellectual and artistic milieu out in
the "hinterland" of Kentucky where he was introduced to
Merton through mutual friends. Two brief essays on
Merton provide further context for the letters that follow,
and demonstrate both the breadth of Merton's literary
interests and the depth of Greene's knowledge of his
friend's writings. Their letters, all too few, coincided with
the limited run of Merton's literary journal, Monks Pond,
and his exchange with Greene reveals two deeply erudite
and abundantly witty minds at work with the earnest joy of
language. The longing of the reader that this collaboration
might have lasted many more years is underscored by the
poignancy of Greene's elegiac poem that closes the
volume.
Published 2004, 64 pages
Clothbound
ISBN 0-9721144-2-4
$22.50
THE THOMAS MERTON / JONATHAN GREENE
CORRESPONDENCE
"A wonderful gift."
- Brother Patrick Hart, General Editor, The Journals of
Thomas Merton
"...a delightful, beautifully produced little volume detailing
the involvement of the poet and publisher Jonathan Greene
with Thomas Merton and his participation with the
publication of Monks Pond. It is a book of interest to
Merton aficionados, to followers of new movements and
trends in poetry, creative writing, and printing, and to
many others."
- Paul M. Pearson, Merton Center, Bellarmine University
This is a book that might well begin, "Once upon a
time...and a place." The time, 1967 and 1968, a period of
now mythic cultural significance; the place, central
Kentucky, from all appearances far from the epicenters of
that cultural upheaval. Yet it was then and there that
Jonathan Greene, a young poet and fledgling publisher
from New York City by way of California, met Thomas
Merton. The result was the tragically brief friendship and
literary collaboration that is celebrated in this volume.
Greene's introductory memoir sets the scene, describing
the unexpectedly rich intellectual and artistic milieu out in
the "hinterland" of Kentucky where he was introduced to
Merton through mutual friends. Two brief essays on
Merton provide further context for the letters that follow,
and demonstrate both the breadth of Merton's literary
interests and the depth of Greene's knowledge of his
friend's writings. Their letters, all too few, coincided with
the limited run of Merton's literary journal, Monks Pond,
and his exchange with Greene reveals two deeply erudite
and abundantly witty minds at work with the earnest joy of
language. The longing of the reader that this collaboration
might have lasted many more years is underscored by the
poignancy of Greene's elegiac poem that closes the
volume.
Published 2004, 64 pages
Clothbound
ISBN 0-9721144-2-4
$22.50
FAULT LINES
Poems by
JONATHAN GREENE
"The most important poems any of us ever encounter are
those that show fresh ways of looking at the world. This
book is rich with poems like that.
- Ted Kooser, United States Poet Laureate
"Jonathan Greene's poems find the hidden seams and
fractures in our experience, in our memory. With exact
words and precise cadence he not only locates fault lines
that separate, but the bonds that bring us together. Fault
Lines shows both the scale and range of Greene's
achievements."
- Robert Morgan
In this new collection of his recent poetry, Jonathan
Greene once more displays that lapidary grace that
readers have admired and critics praised repeatedly over
the past four decades. The title invokes those flaws
concealed within the solidity of everyday objects, waiting
patient years to shatter at an unsuspecting touch, former
use abandoned to the fragmentary evidence of how they
were made and how they ended. Just so the poems here
offer unexpected insights into the various shards of life that
engage Greene’s notice: a friend’s father’s shirt, his
parent’s bed as a child, walking sticks, his woodstove, the
heartbeat of a phonograph needle, a cricket who one-ups
him in storytelling. These are poems infused with
poignancy and loss, guilt and anguish, irony and the
occasional caustic commentary, but also love and delight
in life, and always great good wit and deep humanity.
Published 2004, 58 pages
Paperback
ISBN 0-9721144-1-6
$14.50
Poems by
JONATHAN GREENE
"The most important poems any of us ever encounter are
those that show fresh ways of looking at the world. This
book is rich with poems like that.
- Ted Kooser, United States Poet Laureate
"Jonathan Greene's poems find the hidden seams and
fractures in our experience, in our memory. With exact
words and precise cadence he not only locates fault lines
that separate, but the bonds that bring us together. Fault
Lines shows both the scale and range of Greene's
achievements."
- Robert Morgan
In this new collection of his recent poetry, Jonathan
Greene once more displays that lapidary grace that
readers have admired and critics praised repeatedly over
the past four decades. The title invokes those flaws
concealed within the solidity of everyday objects, waiting
patient years to shatter at an unsuspecting touch, former
use abandoned to the fragmentary evidence of how they
were made and how they ended. Just so the poems here
offer unexpected insights into the various shards of life that
engage Greene’s notice: a friend’s father’s shirt, his
parent’s bed as a child, walking sticks, his woodstove, the
heartbeat of a phonograph needle, a cricket who one-ups
him in storytelling. These are poems infused with
poignancy and loss, guilt and anguish, irony and the
occasional caustic commentary, but also love and delight
in life, and always great good wit and deep humanity.
Published 2004, 58 pages
Paperback
ISBN 0-9721144-1-6
$14.50
Jonathan Greene is the author of over 20 books and more than 250
poems that have appeared in over 80 magazines and anthologies. He was born in
New York City in 1943, and lived in San Francisco twice in the 1960’s. He
graduated from Bard College in 1965, where he studied American Literature with
Ralph Ellison. He has also studied poetry with Robert Lowell and folklore with Alan
Dundes.
Since 1965 Greene has edited and published over 50 books under the Gnomon Press
imprint, including works by Robert Duncan, Wendell Berry, Jonathan Williams, James
Still and others. He now does free-lance book design (including all of Broadstone's
titles to date) and has won a number of awards in the field.
Greene moved to Kentucky in 1966, where he still lives on a farm outside of
Frankfort with his wife, Dobree Adams, herself a noted weaver and photographer.
poems that have appeared in over 80 magazines and anthologies. He was born in
New York City in 1943, and lived in San Francisco twice in the 1960’s. He
graduated from Bard College in 1965, where he studied American Literature with
Ralph Ellison. He has also studied poetry with Robert Lowell and folklore with Alan
Dundes.
Since 1965 Greene has edited and published over 50 books under the Gnomon Press
imprint, including works by Robert Duncan, Wendell Berry, Jonathan Williams, James
Still and others. He now does free-lance book design (including all of Broadstone's
titles to date) and has won a number of awards in the field.
Greene moved to Kentucky in 1966, where he still lives on a farm outside of
Frankfort with his wife, Dobree Adams, herself a noted weaver and photographer.
GISTS, ORTS, SHARDS:
A Commonplace Book
For 500 years teachers and scholars have commended the
practice of recording “commonplaces” – that is, striking
and noteworthy phrases encountered while reading – for
later reference. Few in recent times have taken this advice
with such good effect as Jonathan Greene. A poet,
publisher, book designer and translator, Greene is
foremost a reader of vast range and expansive curiosity,
and the fruits of over forty years of reading with pen in
hand are collected here for the delight and enlightenment
of his fellow readers. Ancient Chinese sages mingle with
modern jazz masters, Yogi Berra meets Einstein, and the
wisdom (and wit) of great minds known and unknown is
on parade. In the concluding section, “A Book of
Correspondences,” Greene juxtaposes quotations on
similar themes written by different writers, at times
separated by centuries and continents, revealing the
special resonance of certain ideas down the ages.
In the end, this collection of such seemingly disparate
thinkers and themes coalesces into an original work in its
own right, an intellectual and artistic portrait of Greene
himself, offering new and deeper insights into the mind and
heart behind his many volumes of poetry.
Published 2006, 96 pages
Paperback
ISBN 0-9721144-5-9
$15.00
A Commonplace Book
For 500 years teachers and scholars have commended the
practice of recording “commonplaces” – that is, striking
and noteworthy phrases encountered while reading – for
later reference. Few in recent times have taken this advice
with such good effect as Jonathan Greene. A poet,
publisher, book designer and translator, Greene is
foremost a reader of vast range and expansive curiosity,
and the fruits of over forty years of reading with pen in
hand are collected here for the delight and enlightenment
of his fellow readers. Ancient Chinese sages mingle with
modern jazz masters, Yogi Berra meets Einstein, and the
wisdom (and wit) of great minds known and unknown is
on parade. In the concluding section, “A Book of
Correspondences,” Greene juxtaposes quotations on
similar themes written by different writers, at times
separated by centuries and continents, revealing the
special resonance of certain ideas down the ages.
In the end, this collection of such seemingly disparate
thinkers and themes coalesces into an original work in its
own right, an intellectual and artistic portrait of Greene
himself, offering new and deeper insights into the mind and
heart behind his many volumes of poetry.
Published 2006, 96 pages
Paperback
ISBN 0-9721144-5-9
$15.00
Photo by Dobree Adams
