Tag Archives: doggerel

Calico Girl

Posted on September 29, 2026 by JMN

She didn’t want me to show you her jawline because my clumsy hand had lent it a possum-like delineation which we agreed was unflattering. Old calico’s not what she used to be.Humps distances on three arthritic legs —Lost the left … Continue reading →

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I’m in a Platonic Relationship with God

Posted on September 26, 2026 by JMN

True Believer:— The one true god exhorts his servants to exalt the one true god.Me:— How is exaltation carried out? Is it a speech act? As in, “I exalt you, lord.”True Believer:— Could be.Me:— Who can know whether I speak … Continue reading →

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I Have Me a Cat

Posted on September 21, 2026 by JMN

Name of Midnight. He’s a smoldering coal,Cat afire. Icicles of burnt siennaPrickle his inkiness. Cheeky usurperOf this enterprise which is myselfHas a preternatural luster to him.Wish I’d named him Buckminster or Trajan.I’m only half serious when I sayDude has the … Continue reading →

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Colossus of Lapsus

Posted on September 14, 2026 by JMN

A defining word for a moment captures the moment in a captivating way.Think of something legendarily large, say, the Colossus of Rhodes,Wonder-of-the-world-level specimen of attentional dimension,Commensurate with, say, a full-on breakdown in the cereal aisleOf the supermarket of nations. Colossus. … Continue reading →

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I Have Me a Sister

Posted on September 11, 2026 by JMN

I have me a sister whose every reportIs she’s fit as a fiddle and couldn’t be better.Her world is the best of all possible places,No matter she could be as mad as a hatter. There’s nary an ache or in … Continue reading →

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Sung Now

Posted on September 6, 2026 by JMN

Harriet Tennessee AlexanderDid not suffer an overripe deaconTo go unremarked from where she stood.My great grandmother, duly churched herself,Would slyly christen the immoderate soulA constipated Baptist. Landing hardOn self-righteous in her considered viewCould overplay the sanctimony card.The railroad bisecting her … Continue reading →

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Battle Hymn of the Besotted

Posted on September 5, 2026 by JMN

We know that God loves. But did you know that God also hates?(Franklin Graham) Frankly, reverend, you’re a broken cracker,Besotted bottom-of-the-barrel divine,Breath blown into a mud pie by your maker,Reared on sodawater and moonshine. Word cloud from a cherrypicked psalterHovers … Continue reading →

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Alligator Alcatrator

Posted on August 25, 2026 by JMN

Numpty majuscles issued from the gladesBy the avenging angel of foul moodsCodify the swampiness that reeksIn the lacustrine gulag’s frothy jakes.Vulpine apologists voice vapid pokesWith knit foreheads and chic tortoise-shell specs.McGeorge Beetlebrow humps insider scoopsWhile Polymarket shills fellate the creeps.Where … Continue reading →

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The Landscapes of the Face

Posted on August 17, 2026 by JMN

The landscapes of the face possessAnd repossess my hand. Even stillIt’s on the move: peak, fissure, defile;Shadow here, just there a vegetation,A blink, a snout, a rumination —Fondest barbarism captured yet!The face solicits pen and ink to nail the stink,Charcoal, … Continue reading →

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Paramecia in a Drop of Pond

Posted on August 15, 2026 by JMN

Paramecia in a drop of pond,Specks milling on the wreckage of dead stars,Motes adrift in several gods’ eyes,We precede our much foretold demise. Unapprised of what there’s to confront,We go on going on until we don’t,You and I, he, she, … Continue reading →

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