Monthly Archives: August 2023

‘La France, c’est la langue française’ (Fernand Braudel)

Posted on August 10, 2023 by JMN

“Oui, j’ai une patrie: la langue française.” (Yes, I do have a homeland: the French language.) (Albert Camus) Sometimes — and I don’t expect to make friends with this statement — all you have the energy for in this life … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Ocean, On Writing

Posted on August 9, 2023 by JMN

“It’s very hard to write well accidentally.” (Ocean Vuong) (c) 2023 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved

Posted in Quotations | Tagged | 1 Comment

Picasso’s ‘Man with a Lamb’ (Sculpture)

Posted on August 8, 2023 by JMN

… With this body of a humble, fragile man who, like an offering, carries a lamb in his arms… Picasso deliberately joined the camp of the sick, the degenerate, the precarious (the Jew, the Romani, the disabled, the homosexual, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged | 2 Comments

Late-Breaking from on High

Posted on August 7, 2023 by JMN

It may be that God doesn’t talk only to Their anointed few; I’ve had word from that Rascal myself. Here’s what I believe They said: I DIDN’T CREATE LIGHT WITH A THIRD-PERSON COMMAND AS YOU HAVE PROPOSED IN YOUR LITTLE … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

‘The Tongue Has No Bones.’ Yeah!

Posted on August 6, 2023 by JMN

There’s no mistaking a language which can uncork a grave accent, an acute accent, a circumflex accent and a dieresis, all in the space of a single written utterance, as not-French. As I coax these diacritic delicacies from my keyboard … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Tagged | 3 Comments

Christian Wiman: ‘Ars Poetica’

Posted on August 5, 2023 by JMN

2.These lost and charnel thoughtsless thoughts than bits of stunI suddenly find myself among;that are the me I am when I am notsleeked to reason and pacific despairspeak to me of a pain that saves,some endmost ear to shrive the … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

A Light Meditation

Posted on August 2, 2023 by JMN

Que la lumière soit! Et la lumière fut.¡Que la luz sea! Y la luz fue. (Que haya luz. Y hubo luz.)Let light BE! And light WAS. I realize God’s literal words were, “Let there be light.” Thinking about religion grammatically … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Who Was the Poet That Said…

Posted on August 1, 2023 by JMN

… Something like: The bird-of-paradise that’s flying up your ass is also flying up mine? You know how, now and then, you simply need a particular poem in order to carry on? “Marvin” something? I’ve tried to track down the … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Tagged | 3 Comments