On the Banks of Monks Pond: The Thomas Merton/Jonathan Greene Correspondence

Published 2004
ISBN 0-9721144-2-4
Clothbound, 64 pages

This is a book that might well begin, "Once upon a time...and a place." The time, 1967 and 1968, a period 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.

Praise for On The Banks of Monks Pond

"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