Author Archives: JMN

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About JMN

I live in Texas and devote much of my time to easel painting on an amateur basis. I stream a lot of music, mostly jazz, throughout the day. I like to read and memorize poetry.

1987: Afterlife of “A Fable”

Posted on November 6, 2018 by JMN

To HH & C(B)B Dear Both: Thank you. I’m dazzled… and a little chastened… that all or even some of this afflatus (re yours of today) should have been wrung from an Equity [computer]. As it happens, C’s afflatus looks … Continue reading →

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“The Good Witch of Park Avenue”

Posted on November 6, 2018 by JMN

The death of David Rockefeller in 2017 at the age of 101 also helped fortify Ms. Gund’s legend. With him gone, she has become the good witch of Park Avenue, torchbearer for the obligation of the rich in an era … Continue reading →

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Since My Baby Left Me

Posted on November 6, 2018 by JMN

Since my baby left me, I’ve found a place to dwell, at the end of Lonely Street in Heartbreak Hotel. I get so lonely, baby. I get so lonely. I get so lonely I could die. Elvis sang those words … Continue reading →

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Word Solace

Posted on November 6, 2018 by JMN

… Jewish prayer is not primarily personal or spontaneous. It is communal reading. Public recitations of ancient words, scripts compiled centuries ago and nearly identical in every synagogue in the world. A lot of those words are about exactly this. … Continue reading →

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Word Hurt

Posted on November 6, 2018 by JMN

If rocks are firearms, words are sticks and stones. (c) 2018 JMN.

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Imagine

Posted on November 6, 2018 by JMN
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Freedom from Meaninglessness

Posted on November 3, 2018 by JMN

I’m not a supporter of Boris Johnson. I have no interest in him or his political ambitions. [But] I do defend people who make jokes about religion. I was part of a campaign to oppose a Parliamentary bill [the Racial … Continue reading →

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Ottoline Morrell on T.S. Eliot, 1916

Posted on November 3, 2018 by JMN

“He is obviously very ignorant of England and imagines that it is essential to be highly polite and conventional and decorous and meticulous.” (Quoted by Louis Menand, “Practical Cat, How T.S. Eliot became T.S. Eliot,” (The New Yorker, September 19, … Continue reading →

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Out-tut-tutting the Tut-tutters

Posted on November 1, 2018 by JMN

Doesn’t one write for oneself primordially? That alone will keep me powering out the posts ‘til kingdom come. If any one of them catches another eye, its ice cream on the frosting. I often bend double laughing at my own … Continue reading →

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Wordsong

Posted on November 1, 2018 by JMN

Kakistocracy. Kleptocratic kakistocracy. Kleptocratic kakistocracy of pettifoggers. Kleptocratic kakistocracy of pettifoggIng snollygosters. (c) 2018 JMN.

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