Tag Archives: doggerel

The Urgent Poetry Is of Brevity

Posted on March 21, 2026 by JMN

The time: a-passing; the clock: a-ticking,The digilords at mind bone pecking.Garrulity — double barreled, bore-hefty,Dilatory, broad in the beam;Lyric rifled, suppressed, curt but rich,Penetrative, swervy toward lean.Speak short intensely well, elseLie pecked to death in din. Obscene. (c) 2026 JMN … Continue reading →

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From Whose Pulpit?

Posted on March 13, 2026 by JMN

… A majority of Protestant voters, the largest religious group in the United States, align with Republicans. And there are signs of weakening Democratic support among other religious groups, including Hispanic Catholics.(Lisa Lerer and Elizabeth Dias) I’ll whisper something to … Continue reading →

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Squawk Transmission 1 & 2

Posted on March 3, 2026 by JMN

By this time I should have acquired enough sense to realize that the cause of wars is sin.(Thomas Merton, The Seven-Storey Mountain) GREENLAND FROTTAGEThe sub-scalpal domain north of the eyeballsIs given to a chronic restivenessnessSharp as a rhinoceros’s horn.It knows … Continue reading →

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(The Ruler Protests the Land That He Rules)

Posted on February 26, 2026 by JMN

(The ruler protests the land that he rules.)Don’t tar my riff, piggy, snarls the boar.Blast the damned Beatitudes with gas!(The ruler protests the land that he tools.)Blare the Ten Commandments in the schools!Your cities are the Sodoms of Gomorre!(The ruler … Continue reading →

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Elephants Are Eminently Sentient

Posted on February 21, 2026 by JMN

ELEPHANTS ARE EMINENTLY SENTIENT Of course they are, you ninny. So is anAmoeba in its way. But these big beastsIn magnitude are titans of sweetness;Matriarchal, family prone, pacific,Communicative browsing herbivores. Pressed upon a time into the miseryOf cock-besotted, bipedal mammalians,Elephants … Continue reading →

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Fire in the Casus Belly

Posted on February 1, 2026 by JMN

The Secretary of War and the Commander of War mustered the Brass at the Department of War. First the SOWThen the COWSettled the hashGood and properOf the BrassAt the DOW.B-B-B-BOOM!K-K-K-POW!NOBEL FOR PEACE!N-N-N-NOW! (c) 2025 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved

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Europa to Americus: ‘Yassuh, Massah!’

Posted on January 23, 2026 by JMN

The Greek derivatives in English spurt from a font of abstruse vocables that gives us, say, “dithyramb” — “a passionate or inflated speech, poem or other writing.” It’s a short hop to coinage such as “pithyramb” — “a passionate or … Continue reading →

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Keep What Holds the Light Unbroken

Posted on January 16, 2026 by JMN

The Gleb on a Gnat’s Vesicle— After Donne. How do we rue you, cunning tongue?Grant us, sir, spit out a lung.Perdition’s grease fire. Odium’s pimp.Perversity’s pal. Plague’s piece of tail.Malice engorged. Enormity in a suit.Torrent of keening. Badmouth bard.Punch down, … Continue reading →

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Plenty of Ouch for the Wicked

Posted on December 8, 2025 by JMN

The fellowship is festive.Rectified canticles boom from the sanctum,Would you believe? … Marching as to war,All the pardoned felonsGoing on before… Rigor mortified, the righteousStiff-arm the anxious,The walking doomed. Worm meat.All told in the scriptures:They will go poof. Straight to … Continue reading →

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The Parable of Angus Burdoo

Posted on November 22, 2025 by JMN

“Interdependence is no longer our choice… It is our condition. We will either build healthy interdependencies and rise together or suffer through unhealthy interdependencies and fall together.” (Dov Seidman, quoted here) Picture a man who engenders a lovely daughter. In … Continue reading →

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