Category Archives: Anthology

My collected writings and those of family members.

Middlesex Praise God, Texas View

Posted on November 13, 2025 by JMN

Imagine Middlesex — it must exist — a town, maybe a “village,” not a city. It’s in The Shires — wherever that is — an English village situated on a stream whose name is sufficiently spelt with three letters. The … Continue reading →

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Time’s Wingèd Hotrod Tailgates Our Patoots*

Posted on November 11, 2025 by JMN

 “It’s easier to turn an aquarium into fish soup than to turn fish soup into an aquarium.” (Russian saying) Time’s wingèd hotrod tailgates our patoots.The piper that denies it is pie-eyed.Rosin up the bow and lick a toad!Time’s wingèd hotrod … Continue reading →

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Review of ‘Infinite Jest’ (Don’t Worry, I’m Jesting!)

Posted on November 9, 2025 by JMN

I haven’t finished listening to the novel on my new Audible subscription, but I see no reason not to review it. It’s twenty-seven Titanics of insanity steaming with breakneck slowness over an eternity of pages towards a who-knows-what species of … Continue reading →

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Enshittified* Cadence of the Unitaries

Posted on November 6, 2025 by JMN

“When she says, ‘We have failed you,’ she means ‘We, the Democrats,’ okay?”— Speaker Mike Johnson(Say What? Archive) We.Other. Smother. Blight. Slight. Smite.Are.Invert. Divert. Revert. Subvert. Pervert.Not.Condemn. Conflate. Confuse. Concoct. Conspire.Them.Suck. Wreck. Mock. Block. Duck.They.Judge. Fudge. Dredge. Dodge. Purge.Are.Garble. Wrangle. … Continue reading →

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Oh Besity! (Anthem)

Posted on November 4, 2025 by JMN

Oh Besity! With tendernessOur country stands for thee,Staunch rampart against slendernessFrom sea to shining sea. Oh Besity! Forsake us not,No di-et shrink our girth.Caloric excess be our lot,Our destiny from birth. Ours the fat and ours the cream,All exercise to … Continue reading →

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Amanuensis

Posted on October 28, 2025 by JMN

…chanting in unison, a mobof flightless birds, one timelesscomplicated psalmafter another…(From “Transfiguration” by Michael Dumanis, Poetry, September 2025) A poem reminded me of you, old friend.Judy, Judy, Judy.You came back from a summer’s Italyspeaking of the Italian boysthronging street corners,half … Continue reading →

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How Translations ‘Fail’

Posted on October 27, 2025 by JMN

(Update, Oct. 26, 2025. Some time after writing what’s below I’ve encountered Mitch Teemley’s citation of Psalm 37:23. What’s a good word for how the Quran and the Bible interact? I’ve no expertise in either, but I see signs of … Continue reading →

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Right On! New Directions in Doggerel

Posted on October 13, 2025 by JMN

With its loping equine cadence, amphibrachic tetrameter holds morbid fascination for the doggerel-besotted. No one knows what it is until they hear it. Then they go, “Oh yeah. There once was a girl from Nantucket.” But they’re wrong, that’s only … Continue reading →

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‘Tirdy-Tree and One-Tird % of the Land Is Trilled, the Other Two-Tirds Not So Much’

Posted on October 4, 2025 by JMN

My title is a headline from the Bulletin of the Apico-Dental Voiceless Fricative Foundation. “Many tink current trends are a trowback to the Tirties.” (Dr. Thurgood Thackery, A-DVFF President) c) 2025 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved

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Sean Singer and ‘Bird’

Posted on September 29, 2025 by JMN

Often as not a poem gives me a right old drubbing while stealing my lunch money, cackling in cold delight all the while. Instead of picking up my Big Chief tablet, shrugging and slinking back to class, I squeal like … Continue reading →

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