SODA SPRINGS − Dr. John Franson is now an author of a poetry book titled “All Things.”
A trusted doctor to many, residents of Caribou County know Franson as the quiet, calm yet steady presence at Caribou Medical Center. For more than two decades he has treated everything from sore throats and broken bones to delivering babies and diagnosing difficult cases.
Now, the community is getting to know a new side of him.
Franson recently published his first collection of poems in a book he says grew quietly out of everyday experiences and practicing medicine, while spending years living a rural Idaho life.
“The poems were mostly written over about a five-year period,” Franson said. “Lots of them came when I was serving as bishop at church. It seemed like the more messages I needed to deliver, the more poems came into my head.”
Franson would jot down ideas as he found inspiration amid unlikely moments such as while riding his bike, working repetitive chores with horses or traveling. Traveling always provided experiences that stirred his creativity to write more.
“Traveling is always eye-opening for me,” he said.
His poems focus less on traditional symbols like summer flowers or bald eagles and more on themes that are complex and sometimes uncomfortable such as paradoxes, struggles and the deep connections between humans and the natural world.
“Mostly I write about the natural world and how it relates to us,” Franson said. “The work and beauty of making a living.”
He hopes readers will approach his poems in the same thoughtful way he approaches a patient in need of medical care.
“Poems are much more dense and compact,” he said. “They should be read leisurely, maybe just a little at a time. And once a poem is put forth by the author, it stands alone. Its power is how it speaks to each reader.”
Franson has no formal literary training, but he doesn’t see that as a disadvantage in the poetry world.
“We are all amateurs," he said. "Since writing was invented, humans have written their own notes, rhymes and impressions. The idea that a select group of special people were appointed to write all poems – that’s just not how it works.”
He feels the influence of talented fellow authors like Jane Kenyon, Wendell Berry, Mary Oliver and Walt Whitman, along with Norwegian writers Hans Borli and Olav Hauge. One of his favorites is by Hauge, titled “That Man."
"All Things" is available for purchase at the local public library and Amazon.
For a doctor who is accustomed to speaking in prescription vernacular and through treatment plans, poetry is a different kind of medicine and creative outlet − one Franson is willing to share with the world.