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.

What Makes a Poem ‘Hard’?

Posted on July 17, 2020 by JMN

“Syntax” is the answer to the fudgy question. It’s hard to reach image and reference through muddy syntax. In narrative and exposition, context comes to the rescue; in poetry often not, because a poet revels in flare-gunning lap dance moon … Continue reading →

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Bayou Bull: Breaking Water News

Posted on July 16, 2020 by JMN

Texas City. The American Hydrological Sodality’s southeast chapter is circulating a white paper, “Petulant Sociopathy Limitations for Drainage Management in Elevated Swamp-Tick Infestation Ecologies,” for peer review pending September publication in the journal Waterworks. The paper’s authors, Thom Smythe and … Continue reading →

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How It Gets Ugly

Posted on July 15, 2020 by JMN

Half a thousand academics want Steven Pinker dropped from the list of “distinguished fellows” of the Linguistic Society of America for allegedly minimizing racial and sexist injustices. Because this is a fight involving linguists, it features some expected elements: intense … Continue reading →

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History Not Happened Yet

Posted on July 13, 2020 by JMN

A few years ago, I interrupted a panel discussion at the Guggenheim as it moved toward the dead-horse question of whether painting was still viable. How, I asked, uninvited, from the audience, could people talk of the end of painting … Continue reading →

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A Conservative with Elite Style

Posted on July 12, 2020 by JMN

But there was one small difficulty: This hawk was no Truman or Reagan, but rather a reality-television mountebank whose real attitude toward China policy was, basically, whatever gets me re-elected works. Who has heard recently, or ever, the word “mountebank”? … Continue reading →

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Why Do Poets Ampersand?

Posted on July 12, 2020 by JMN

The poem is “Sacrament I” by Robin Gow (Poetry, March 2020). Excerpt, first stanza: & all the faucets pour oil or milk.We fill father’s bottles, the brown and green;thick glass blood cells, a throat-slit pouring silk.When will the baptisms make … Continue reading →

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Navy Blue: A Nurse’s Medallion

Posted on July 10, 2020 by JMN

(c) 2020 JMN

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Nantucket Water-Fetching Saga

Posted on July 9, 2020 by JMN

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Jill and Jack went out the backEquipped with a large bucket.Jill said, “Both hands now, Jack, you prat,And this time let’s not…” (c) 2020 JMN

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What Does a Poem Teach? Fluidity

Posted on July 8, 2020 by JMN

Excerpts are from the poem “A Future History” by Suzi L. Garcia (Poetry, March 2020). A muster of peacocks show off their tails, but instead of feathers, knives. This line introduces me to “muster,” a collective noun applied to peacocks. … Continue reading →

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Handshake

Posted on July 7, 2020 by JMN

This photo captures a moment when a ritual handshake marked a pause in our Civil War. The Virginia Monument… marks the departure point of Pickett’s Charge, an ill-fated assault launched 157 years ago on July 3 on the final afternoon … Continue reading →

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