Monkscript: Literature, Arts, Spirituality & Photography

by Bernadette Dieker (Editor), Paul Quenon (Editor)

This anthology offers poems, fiction, essays, art, meditations, and interviews, written from the ambiance of eastern and western monasticism, by those who live inside and outside of monasteries.

149 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Elisabeth Moss · Rating 5 out of 5]

another retreat read. this was just what i wanted! poetry, essays, and interviews about the monastic life and retreats. while most of these poems were average, a few were very good and the essays were thought-provoking and presented new perspectives on religion and self-discipline. 5 stars for being exactly what i wanted it to be.

[mattie mae seals · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you guys couldn’t tell, i am yearning for a simplified life. monks are currently, and i suspect will continue to be, an obsession of mine for many times to come. i picked up monkscript from the monastery my friend john and i stayed at over memorial day weekend in 2025, and somehow it patiently waited on my bookshelf until recently, when i pulled it down and started reading. and now, apparently, i am in my morning monk era.

since starting it, i’ve found myself waking up and thinking i need more monk, rolling over, grabbing the book, and reading a few pages before the day fully arrives. it’s become this gentle, grounding way to begin the morning. not rushed. not loud. just attentive.

this book is highly creative and deeply thoughtful in a way that feels raw rather than curated. poems, interviews, reflections, and stories that don’t try to impress you, but instead invite you to slow down and notice what’s already there. there’s a reverence to it that feels earned.
one line i can’t shake comes from the poem pure joy: “each moment minus your opinion of it.” that sentence alone felt like spiritual direction. how much of my life is spent reacting, labeling, narrating, instead of simply receiving. it was simple and devastating in the best way.

i also really loved the opening interview with huston smith, especially his response to a question i’ve carried for a long time about monastic life. i’ve often wondered whether monks are escaping the world, retreating from evangelism or engagement, choosing quiet over responsibility. but smith reframes it beautifully, suggesting that in many ways it’s the rest of us who are escaping. we avoid the ultimate questions. we avoid sustained attention to god. we avoid the kind of surrender that requires us to sit still and listen. monks, by contrast, are facing those questions head on.

that challenged me deeply. because while monastic life can look like retreat on paper, it may actually be a more honest confrontation with god and self than the noise-filled lives many of us live. we may not wear habits, but we’re very good at hiding.

i also loved the stories throughout the book of people living simple lives and the insight that emerges from that simplicity. how time is spent. how prayer weaves into ordinary moments. how faith becomes less about productivity and more about presence. it made me reflect on how rarely i allow that kind of space in my own life, even though i long for it.

this book is simple in the truest sense. it’s an easy read, but not a shallow one. it doesn’t argue or persuade so much as it invites you to consider what you’re rushing past and what god might be saying in the quiet.

i loved this book. it made me smile, think, and gently examine the ways i fill my days. it didn’t make me want to become a monk, exactly. but it did make me want to live with more intention, more surrender, and a deeper trust that god meets us not only in doing, but in being.