Monthly Archives: September 2024

‘Digging Everywhere Until Things Gave’

Posted on September 29, 2024 by JMN

Adjacency can have a downside when it sparks comparison. “Praise Song for Annie Allen” by Angela Jackson is published alongside Gwendolyn Brooks’s “Memorial to Ed Bland” in Poetry, September 2024. The juxtaposition drives home for me how brightly Brooks shines … Continue reading →

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I Want to Be a Man Who Disdains Platitudes…

Posted on September 26, 2024 by JMN

a man who… … tells it like it is.… heard it from the horse’s mouth.… saw it coming. … sees the forest for the trees.— measures twice, cuts once.… wasn’t born yesterday. … trusts his gut.… takes the bull by … Continue reading →

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Morning Fruit

Posted on September 23, 2024 by JMN

When I write, I say words in my mind. I’m pretty sure I can type words as fast as I can think them. Sometimes it seems I’ve typed them even faster than that! I wash and slice an organic Ambrosia … Continue reading →

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I Made This Object. Call It a Sign.

Posted on September 20, 2024 by JMN

I made this object as a courtesy to visitors looking for my door.  Direct your steps this-a-way in order to accomplish your purpose, it implies.  All it actually says is “Entrance” — I didn’t have room for much more, but … Continue reading →

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Quran 3:78 —> Vance

Posted on September 17, 2024 by JMN

Like the King James Bible for Judaism and Christianity, the Holy Quran is for Islam a monument to luminous language in a spiritual setting. As a student of Arabic I study Quranic texts to strengthen my grasp of the language … Continue reading →

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Modernism in Amateur Painting

Posted on September 15, 2024 by JMN

It’s a tricky business this amateurism. Progress consists in putting a non-realistic spin on scenes and objects. Ideally, the subject should be rigorously interrogated, stripped to its essences, warped or scuffed up past anodyne mimesis. Seen, not depicted. Stamped with … Continue reading →

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The Ballad of Forty-Six

Posted on September 13, 2024 by JMN

DJ, my lord! The grail from which you suprunneth over, sir, with fulsomeness.By your leave I’ll tell it like it is:JD, as well, sips from a frothy cup. DJ, JD, a mirror’s dream times two,chosen well you have, each one … Continue reading →

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THAT God: The Argument With Him (or Them)

Posted on September 11, 2024 by JMN

Christian J. Collier publishes three poems in Poetry, September 2024: “God,” “Case Study” and “The Compline.” Spoken cleanly, rhythmically, hotly, they orbit around experience gleaned from the crucible of propagating life. Formal religion can be heavy on bone and light … Continue reading →

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Martha Diamond: ‘Looming Masses, Fleeting Vistas, Overwhelming Immersion’

Posted on September 9, 2024 by JMN

She completed an oil painting in one sitting, often mixing colors on the surface of the canvas. Martha Diamond’s approach to painting, and her execution, delight me. I dream of achieving something even approximating her studied generality in my own … Continue reading →

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Attack of the Cosmic Chuckle

Posted on September 6, 2024 by JMN

I heard that Iris Murdoch said (or wrote), “Everything that comforts is fake.” Then I read: According to the best theories available, matter — everything we can see and feel in the universe — should not exist. Every particle of … Continue reading →

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