Category Archives: Anthology

My collected writings and those of family members.

Un-Contained

Posted on June 25, 2024 by JMN

The text is Marvin K. White’s “From Containment to Expansion: A Tenderloin Meditation in Two Parts” (Poetry, July/August 2024). Part 1 contains 82 the’s, 41 does not contain’s and 41 pairings that span the elemental (sun-fire), the metaphysical (circle-infinity), the … Continue reading →

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Nick Ferrari Hobnobs With Toffs at the Garrick Club

Posted on June 21, 2024 by JMN

Just the other day I spied Reginald-now-Lord Fairfax at his usual perch in the smoking room of the club. I greeted Reggie, ordered a brandy, and inquired after his father-in-law Rufus-now-Lord Driscoll, whose alleged dalliance with a domestic has triggered … Continue reading →

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Raise Your Hand If You Know What ‘Paratactic’ Means

Posted on June 12, 2024 by JMN

In an essay, Meghan O’Rourke writes the following: Ambivalence is, like so much poetry, paratactic. (Poetry, June 2024) Ambivalence is a state of mind characterized by mixed feelings. Parataxis is a rhetorical move. It daisy-chains independent clauses, leaving it to … Continue reading →

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Paradise Flown

Posted on June 6, 2024 by JMN

“People are not always great at predicting their own behavior.” (Kristen Soltis Anderson) The founding myth of the civilization teeming beneath my bird feeder says a mature Cardinal fancied an underage squirrel. From their unnatural union sprang a creature with … Continue reading →

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‘I Don’t Agree With What I Said’

Posted on June 2, 2024 by JMN

In a delicious Onion skit a befuddled member of a clueless television news panel ends up saying, “Yeah, I don’t agree with what I said!” It’s a wicked sendup of vacuous cable news, but also sparks a thought: What if … Continue reading →

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It Stirs, Not-Knowing-Ness

Posted on May 31, 2024 by JMN

“You need to have some sense of awe, mystery and not-knowing-ness to have faith in the possibilities of the world and what God has done.” (Abram Van Engen) IT STIRSWhat are we seeing?I don’t know, but there it is.It is … Continue reading →

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Hilltop Experience

Posted on May 28, 2024 by JMN

There must be a type of experience that isn’t uncommon among folk, yet is felt individually as epochal and singular. I classify it as contemplation of a certain prospect from a particular height in circumstances which combine to induce a … Continue reading →

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Transcendental Hokum

Posted on May 23, 2024 by JMN

it’s raining in Athens too, a brood of stars jump on the hood as I race onto Route 441 & sob over a cold voice on the radio explaining God. (Abhijit Sarmah, “In Her Last Phone Call”) I harbor the … Continue reading →

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Real Meat or Die!

Posted on May 18, 2024 by JMN

… Determined to assert their alterity, they make sure that they’re always facing backward. (Cole Swensen, “Birds on Statues”) From Tallahassee to the seathe state of Florida shall belab-grown meat and climate free. SourcesDionne Searcey, “‘We Will Save Our Beef’: … Continue reading →

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Incantation With Discreet Avowal

Posted on May 12, 2024 by JMN

To all who need them: Thoughts and prayers from the legislatures.Thoughts and prayers from the donors.Thoughts and prayers from the councils.Thoughts and prayers from the courts.Thoughts and prayers from the boards.Thoughts and prayers from the embassies.Thoughts and prayers from the … Continue reading →

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