Category Archives: Anthology

My collected writings and those of family members.

‘A Wild and Capacious Art’

Posted on August 3, 2025 by JMN

“Poetry belongs to all who write, read, sing and sign it.” (Adrian Matejka) ”A wild and capacious art” is how Adrian Matejka describes it. The editor of Poetry knows whereof he speaks, though I would hazard that other art forms … Continue reading →

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Until We Are They?

Posted on July 26, 2025 by JMN

“The evolution of language always encounters resistance, and sometimes outrage.” (John McWhorter) A poem by Danez Smith in Poetry, July-August 2025, titled “They/Them” should be read whole but, to be brief, starts: said short: i feel more like a stud. … Continue reading →

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‘Deep Blue Scrap of Lie’

Posted on July 24, 2025 by JMN

There’s a cleanly spoken, elegant poem in Poetry, May 2025, that lingers in the mind’s eye. It’s called “Infinity Pool” by Vona Groarke.  You flirt with an arresting occurrence in the liminal paralysis of semi-sleep. It nags. If not worded … Continue reading →

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Eric’s Song: Triolet La-La-La

Posted on July 9, 2025 by JMN

“I have never been more proud of our company. Our portfolio is operating flawlessly, and 2025 will mark the strongest year in the remarkable history of the Trump Organization.”(Eric Trump) Papa got his swerve on.(Mojo Monkeys) A Congress cowed and … Continue reading →

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Death in Venice: Triolet

Posted on July 6, 2025 by JMN

The problem with the world is there’s only one of it. If something goes wrong there isn’t a backup. It just grinds on, full of the error. (Luke Allan) A An Amazon swamps Venice’s lagoon.B The world, it just grinds … Continue reading →

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Spasms of Lunacy: Triolet

Posted on June 29, 2025 by JMN

There are lessons to be found in these ancient desks where many hearts are gouged.(Peter Kline) A There are lessons to be found in theseB Halls where horny boys now dead had trudged. c The ancient desks where many hearts … Continue reading →

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Caviar Bumps at Butterworth’s: Triolet

Posted on June 18, 2025 by JMN

A The scene is festive. Where the flames are fedB Tainted choirs croon, “More and more is less.”c Spuds fried in tallow — gag me with a spoon!A The scene is festive where the flames are fed.a In the eyes, … Continue reading →

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Before Bidding Eau de Revoir to the May Issue

Posted on June 16, 2025 by JMN

Here’s something called a triolet from Poetry, May 2025. The form is new to me and strikes a chord: concision, repetition, the discipline imposed. Triolet with a Line by Sylvia Plathby Brittany Perham We take the N out to the … Continue reading →

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Pride Goeth Before a Parade

Posted on June 13, 2025 by JMN

They say: A man who can’t tell shoe polish from shinola is fit to be tied by time and the tide. It’s one of those old sayings they say is never insufficient to the day thereof.  They say: A stitch … Continue reading →

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Manifest MAEGAN

Posted on June 11, 2025 by JMN

Make American English Great Again Now  — MAEGAN — is a sweet hotrod of a movement, a screaming dragster with four-barrel carburetor smoking the shithole competition wherever jalopies duke it out. The Nineteen-Fifties burn rubber in the Twenty-Twenties like there’s … Continue reading →

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