Category Archives: Anthology

My collected writings and those of family members.

“Doubtless your streets…”

Posted on June 25, 2018 by JMN

Doubtless your streets teem with miscreants and errant strollers. The windows of your cottages must be festooned with mock lace. Your doors surely sag on their hinges. Your tiny gardens must be rank with common gillyflowers and copied statues. Your … Continue reading →

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“Homecoming went well…”

Posted on June 20, 2018 by JMN

Homecoming went well this year. The Stags played the Mott Mohicans here and won 49-7. Stoop Harcourt pulled the “Sensation of the Stag Nation” float in the Saturday parade with that old Allis Chalmers tractor of his. His daughter Lirick … Continue reading →

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“Tough Rocks”

Posted on June 20, 2018 by JMN

Tough Rocks “Two exoplanets proven hard to kill!” A headline like that promises a thrill. “The two survived their dying star’s last gasp,” It says, but this is difficult to grasp. The parent star turned red, puffed up, and died. … Continue reading →

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“A Modest Proposal”

Posted on June 20, 2018 by JMN

Jonathan Swift wrote that the babies of the poor should be spitted, roasted, and consumed. The quotation, in Latin, crowns the main gate to Baldershanks, Sir Alistair Chichester’s estate in Chichesterton-Upon-Hogg. Many have dismissed the Swiftian proposition as merely a mischievous … Continue reading →

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This just in!

Posted on June 19, 2018 by JMN

The restaurant in the UK House of Parliament has changed the name of a classic British dessert known as “spotted dick”; henceforth it will be called “spotted richard.” (Eater, June 18, 2018) Spotted dick was featured in the cozy supper … Continue reading →

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“Morning Norther”

Posted on June 17, 2018 by JMN

The wind trees up, driving a pile of mischief, rousing leaf rabble and a scramble of squirrels. Pelting rain drop-kicks the sink window pane. Water’s kettled, coffee’s ground, but it’s a storm that’s brewing. God’s baby Jesus rattle claps, His … Continue reading →

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“For Her”

Posted on June 14, 2018 by JMN

(1) You are the Pole I turn around, My needle’s North, the shade I seek On a hot day. You are the ground I grow in, stamina I lack. Remember snow that caked the “Roost”? The box of bubbly you … Continue reading →

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The Alien Parade

Posted on June 6, 2018 by JMN

The largest exoplanet ever found Is quite a marvel where marvels abound. Theory holds it cannot be, they say, But sometimes theory doesn’t have its way. It is a type of planet they call puffy That orbits its parent in … Continue reading →

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The Rev. Bidley-Spaulding

Posted on June 4, 2018 by JMN

Every other Sunday the Right Reverend Llewelyn Bidley-Spaulding motors in his classic antique Bentley from Meadowshire to Chichesterton-Upon-Hogg to visit professionally his old friend, Sir Alistair Chichester. In the 14th-century private chapel attached to Baldershanks, the baronial mansion that has … Continue reading →

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The Lady Stag Boosters…

Posted on May 31, 2018 by JMN

The Lady Stag Boosters were gonna bring the molded salads for the Stadium Fund money raiser; the Antlerette moms would do the casseroles. Mustang Mart would donate sweet tea. Things looked hunky dory until Hollie Jean Burmeister told Rose Ellen … Continue reading →

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