Category Archives: Quotations

Things people said.

Inwardness, Tenderness, Political Rage

Posted on October 6, 2025 by JMN

***“I hate being called poet/dramatist/translator/director. Poet covers it all for me… I want to do justice to my inwardness, my tenderness, my political rage.” (Tony Harrison)*** ***… como una mosca espía…… like a fly on the wall… [“a spy fly”!](From “Revuelo” … Continue reading →

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‘Sheathed in Fetters’ or ‘Bound in Chains’?

Posted on September 26, 2025 by JMN

Afterthought foregrounded: This will go down as a wildly utopian, presumptuous, naive, impractical proposition. Imagine a world in which the devout were schooled from an early age to read the foundational scriptures of their respective creeds in the original languages … Continue reading →

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Absurdity Muddled With Beauty: Insouciant!

Posted on September 9, 2025 by JMN

Muddling is when you gently and lovingly release aromatic oils from fruits and herbs. “I have finally freed myself from the sticky medium of paint, and am working directly with light itself.” (Man Ray, 1922) In French, the title [“Violon … Continue reading →

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THERE Be Dragons — Blue Ones!

Posted on August 28, 2025 by JMN

“We still don’t know exactly what we’re dealing with here… But given the warming of the Mediterranean,… we’re not ruling out that in the coming years we will once again confront situations that we’ve never dealt with.” (José Luis Sáez, … Continue reading →

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‘I Came Into the World Very Young’

Posted on July 16, 2025 by JMN

I discovered Satie long ago through Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes, and liked the music immediately. I thought of him as a “minor” composer, and I was drawn to perceived niche tastes. I crave even now the unmoored feeling that his music … Continue reading →

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Untie These Hidebound Eyes, Unbind These Hogtied Hands

Posted on July 12, 2025 by JMN

Jason Farago-rhymes-with-Chicago writes a deep, reflective appreciation of Cézanne’s work, calling Cézanne the first painter he ever loved.  BC*: For six centuries, ever since some scientifically minded Florentines had developed rules of perspective that made art look more like life, … Continue reading →

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Guide for the Perplexed

Posted on July 1, 2025 by JMN

“… When I don’t know what to do next, I tend to throw everything at it, be as expressive or as minimalist or as detailed as I can, reach for bright colours or keep it monochrome, look intensely or scribble … Continue reading →

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‘Ebullient, Rigorous and Boastfully Esoteric’

Posted on June 23, 2025 by JMN

Walker Mimms’s treatment of Hilma af Klint is elegant, lyrical, explicit. Ebullient, rigorous and boastfully esoteric, these “Nature Studies,” as she called them, reveal the didactic side of a pioneer in nonliteral art. This is an economical show of some … Continue reading →

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Campaign in Poetry, Govern in Fiction

Posted on June 20, 2025 by JMN

“Eggs have come down 400%. Everybody has eggs now.”— Trump, apparently unaware prices can only drop 100% Say What? Archive No no, it’s true. Eggs aren’t only FREE now, grocery stores are PAYING customers to walk out with plenty of … 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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