Franciscan Notes, Williamson Alan

In Alan Williamsons FRANCISCAN NOTES, one senses at every turn a complex, shifting mind always at work on problems of mortality, family, the irretrievability of the past, and the fleeting nature of the present. The histories of literature, music, and art live in this book not as areas of academic study, but as humanizing forces, as clarifying lenses through which we can better understand the intersection of our own public and personal landscapes, our foibles, needs, and momentary brilliances. But this doesnt begin to touch on Williamsons ability to transform a kind of cultural erudition into work that is deeply moving on a personal level. This is marvelous collection by a poet whose work I have admired for years. Kevin Prufer