Tag Archives: language

Start at the Center

Posted on December 12, 2024 by JMN

Start at the center of the faceAnd work outwardsThe center’s where the features areWhat surrounds is just outline Start at the center of the centerAnd work out whatIs where the center startsWhat surrounds is more of that Stare at the … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Poetry Isn’t nor Is. It Happens or Doesn’t.

Posted on December 10, 2024 by JMN

— For all the maimed and dead. Happens on a FujiHappens on a GalaHappens on a HoneycrispHappens on a Granny SmithHalving the appleQuartering the appleEighth-ing the apple(Can you say that?)Knife slides across skin’Til skin gives inApple tears at the blade … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology | Tagged , | 8 Comments

‘A Wall to Lean on & Get Your Fiend On’

Posted on November 30, 2024 by JMN

I’ve been reading old nursery rhymes I was exposed to in tinyhood by a teenaged aunt and twenty-year-old mother. They must have enthralled me as I lay me down to sleep in the pre-reason season; they still do. Why? Obscenely … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

‘I Aimed for English Renderings That Could Stand on Their Own’

Posted on November 27, 2024 by JMN

It’s a handsome volume* with gloriously voweled Arabic texts opposite English versions by James E. Montgomery, Sir Thomas Adams’s Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Trinity Hall. The poems are by, and attributed to, Abū … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Homelessness in the Homeland: The Nursery View

Posted on November 21, 2024 by JMN

There was an old womanLived under a hill;And if she’s not gone,She lives there still. (From In the Nursery of My Book House, ed. by Olive Beaupré Miller, 1937) (c) 2024 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved

Posted in Quotations | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The Philosopher Writes His Mind, Then Says, ‘Read It.’

Posted on November 18, 2024 by JMN

Persons who explain philosophy say “as it were” and “if you will” a lot. I’m none the wiser how it were, and no, I won’t.  Persons who explain poetry don’t. God writes the universe, then says, “Read it. As it … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Thinking About Translation While Reading the Quran

Posted on November 13, 2024 by JMN

Nabokov and Borges differed over how translation should be done, the former favoring literalness (“The clumsiest literal translation is a thousand times more useful than the prettiest paraphrase”), the latter transformation (“Translation is… a more advanced stage of writing”). I … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Did Adam and Eve Have Navels?

Posted on November 9, 2024 by JMN

“If all men are born free, how is it that women are born slaves?” (Mary Astell (1666-1731) The question of Adam’s and Eve’s navels has been discussed by theologians. It’s interesting, some have thought, for how it bears on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

‘Enough of This Tomfoolery!’ (God)

Posted on November 7, 2024 by JMN

“The Dallas-Fort Worth region is home to more than 6,500 houses of worship, the highest concentration in the top 10 largest urban regions in the country, according to the 2020 U.S. religion census. Four of the 20 largest churches in … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Pour Me a Draft of Heartsick with a Shot of Hope

Posted on November 5, 2024 by JMN

“For every Karen we lose, there’s a Julio and a Jamal ready to sign up for the MAGA movement.”  (Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida) I knew an English professor who remarked during the season of final exams that it was … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments