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.

Forecast: Brainstorms With a Chance of Conniptions

Posted on August 28, 2023 by JMN

“Cubism seeks to destroy by designed disorder… Dadaism aims to destroy by ridicule… Abstractionism aims to destroy by the creation of brainstorms.”(Republican Congressman George Dondero in speech to the House of Representatives, August 16, 1949) Three years later, Dondero told … Continue reading →

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Paint the Buttons!

Posted on August 26, 2023 by JMN

“How do you expect me to paint a portrait of Stalin?” he asked, irritated. “First of all, I’ve never seen him, and I don’t remember what he looks like, other than the fact that he wears a uniform with lots … Continue reading →

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The Hyper-Groomed Gnomechuck Is Back

Posted on August 23, 2023 by JMN

I’m keeping an eye on the confected pixel pixie spawned by a whoring AI chatbot that we met not long ago here in EthicalDative. The entity has morphed from this nugatory skidmark… … into this spavined dreamboat: This particular ad … Continue reading →

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The Bull in ‘Minotaur’

Posted on August 21, 2023 by JMN

Consider this opening of “Minotaur” by Douglas Kearney: MINOTAUR The best part,how we make topart the beastfrom its self. The illusion fostered by the abrupt entrée en matière is that of a conversation suddenly caught on a hot mic. The … Continue reading →

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Where Has All the Rhyming Gone?

Posted on August 18, 2023 by JMN

By all accounts poetry was the first literature of the sundry peoples. It predated writing, so rhyme, rhythm and alliteration helped rhapsodes and minstrels hold it in their heads. In contemporary lyric rhyme is absent (thank goodness), alliteration rare; rhythm … Continue reading →

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‘The Round Jubilance of Peach’

Posted on August 17, 2023 by JMN

Can a person swear for joy? It’s what I do. My reflex on encountering a poem that triggers a rush of involvement on first reading is to let fly a putatively disobliging epithet. It’s a reverb from the salutary shock … Continue reading →

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When History Fails the Test of History

Posted on August 15, 2023 by JMN

“No one ever draws a lesson from history that they didn’t want to draw in the first place.” (Alistair Campbell) “Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat the exam.” (A Professor) (c) 2023 JMN — EthicalDative. … Continue reading →

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OCCD

Posted on August 13, 2023 by JMN

Some persons, of whom I may be one, are beset by the brevity demon. Obsessive-Compulsive Concision Disorder is an aggressive form of self-effacement, a weaponized modesty that clamors furtively for slivers of bandwidth under cover of a solicitous compunction over … Continue reading →

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The Poem of al-Khansā’

Posted on August 12, 2023 by JMN

Al-Khansā’, born near the end of the 6th century A.D., is renowned for elegies she composed for her slain brothers Mu^āwiya and Saẖr. Line 5, midway through the poem, is notable for the brusque transition to aggrieved resignation leading into … Continue reading →

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‘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 →

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