Category Archives: Anthology

My collected writings and those of family members.

‘Romer’s Gap’ by Tian-Ai

Posted on March 13, 2024 by JMN

‘Romer’s Gap’ by Tian-Ai is published in Poetry, January/February 2024. Romer’s gap, supratidal, intertidal, subtidal, fly agaric, snailfish, and aphotic are terms I boned up on in scaling the text. Italic print sets off three sections, headed by the tidal … Continue reading →

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Muscle of the Cheek

Posted on February 14, 2024 by JMN

… The buccinator assists the muscles of mastication. It aids whistling and smiling, and in neonates it is used to suckle. (Wikipedia) It’s also useful for reciting poetry. I met buccinator (BUCKS-i-nater), an ancient horn tooter, in the poem “Sissy … Continue reading →

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Notes on Process

Posted on January 25, 2024 by JMN

When I indite a scrap of doggerelI launch five iambs on a fancy verb. So. Post launch, it’s a fight to go all pinche. Listen to the warm; daub raunch on the prissy; cut the crap into the shape of … Continue reading →

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Just Say Right, It’s Only Weather

Posted on January 17, 2024 by JMN

As long as the nation’s fleet of private jets can take to the skies there’s no call to whine about so-called climate (the Dems’ name for weather). There’s a right way to think about it, just do a thought experiment. … Continue reading →

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Epistemic Hubris: Unwarranted Certainty (About Complex Issues)

Posted on January 15, 2024 by JMN

Greek words are a nerd’s downfall. I’m a nerd, therefore felled by epistemic hubris. Whenever I encounter “epistemic,” as in Maggie Jackson’s essay, I have to mentally re-solder its connection to epistemology, which I barely retain has to do with … Continue reading →

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‘Bare’ with Me: I’m of Two Minds

Posted on January 10, 2024 by JMN

Writer Charles Behlen told me that reading a poem could be like stepping off a plane into Madagascar when you thought your destination was Lubbock, Texas. Things would look different, he said. I took it as his way of chiding … Continue reading →

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Choices the Chosen Cherish

Posted on December 23, 2023 by JMN

I’m proud of the choice I madeto be squeezed from momma’s vaginain the Hamptons and not old Carolina. I’m proud that the daddy I chosewas several cuts above the rest,fetching me the fortune sans the quest. Proud I am of … Continue reading →

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Message in a Bubble

Posted on December 21, 2023 by JMN

Hola, H. He aquí todo un poema de un tal Ben Okri que sale en la revista Poetry de diciembre 2023. SEGOVIAI walked your acueducts at dawn.With giant legs they bestrode the landscapeOf the Moors. Stick insects. Like RomansOn stilts. … Continue reading →

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‘Our Lady of the Westside” by Antonio López

Posted on December 15, 2023 by JMN

“When Davis’s poems are poetry, they are powerful.” (Langston Hughes, on Frank Marshall Davis) I’ve no basis for discerning what’s verse and what’s poetry other than whether it jostles a personal needle. I compare a poetry moment (loosely) to another … Continue reading →

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Poetry Isn’t About

Posted on December 10, 2023 by JMN

I read verses that stir me,but can’t remember what they said.They don’t mean what they say,they are what they say.I read them again to be stirred;they keep not meaning, only being,leaving in my mind a memoryof being stirred by words.Grasping … Continue reading →

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