Tag Archives: language

Rae Armantrout Appeals to My Inner Toddler

Posted on May 21, 2026 by JMN

I want to say Rae Armantrout springs a cavalcade of huggable schwas on me, but rumpled or purple or bubbly would describe them, too. As long as they’re duple bumpy words. Joints grind likeshot brakes. Food ignitesin our stomachs. But … Continue reading →

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A-B-C-D-D-C-B-A

Posted on May 16, 2026 by JMN

every need fights to makeits voice heard, to befulfilled with a gentle touch (from K. LINES THAT AIM TO BE) K’s lines, encountered after I had spewed the below caustic grump at the demons of my own distractedness, furnished an … Continue reading →

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Mid-May on the Littoral

Posted on May 14, 2026 by JMN

It stupefies, it sickens, it infuriates.(Philip Roth on American life in the 1960s) I fear I’ve morphed into a carping nag.Crafting invective merely fêtes the boor,vomitous bilge the thing that feeds his root.It’s to priss froufrou-like at the galaof distress, … Continue reading →

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Messy Antic Bomb Bard

Posted on May 10, 2026 by JMN

I compel you in the name of my HIMARS!I compel you in the name of my ATACMS!I compel you in the name of my GENERALS,By the lashings of my terrible swift tongue! You want a red sea? I will give … Continue reading →

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Let Fly, Let Sing

Posted on May 4, 2026 by JMN

As a grammar nerd I have to comment: The hortatory “let” allows you and me to influence the behavior of a third person (Let him go fly a kite!), or a third person that of a fourth (Mary Ann said, … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Wampeters Are Catnip for Goon Balloons

Posted on April 26, 2026 by JMN

Wampeters are catnip for goon balloons,Slippery as deer guts on a doorknob,Dark Davos in an amniotic greatcoat,Wampum coined from oligarchs’ spittoons.Treacly curls, puffed labia, eyeball moons —A lecherous lapsarian’s heartthrob!Wampeters are catnip for goon balloons,Triggery as the fingers of an … Continue reading →

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The Madman Helming the Solo Voyage

Posted on April 22, 2026 by JMN

When at sea / directionless / approach the / Unexpected(Cheyenne McMasters) The madman helming the solo voyagesteers by the seat of his cargo shorts.His jury-rigged bark breasts the swellsand he clutches the tiller with white knuckles. The madman waves to … Continue reading →

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Come Sweetly

Posted on April 18, 2026 by JMN

No more the air- / borne omens; no more the incensed prayers; no more the carcass / butchered at the altar.(From “Elegy for the Deathless Gods” by Sherod Santos, Poetry, March 2026) To this or that paradise of misruleIs not … Continue reading →

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Epic Titan (Art of the DOGE)

Posted on April 10, 2026 by JMN

I love that guy! I love him. And we’ll only have one chance at this…(Rev. Franklin Graham) Open the Fuckin’ Strait…(Trump) “Alas, alack, all manner of woe.” My big TOE, pussies!Grievance in the cheap seats, on the ground, in the … Continue reading →

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We See Colors With Our Tongues

Posted on April 5, 2026 by JMN

This is my favorite poster ’til further notice. I see yellow, orange, red, violet, blue, green. What do you see? Jean Widmer was born Hans Ulrich Widmer on March 31, 1929, in Frauenfeld, Switzerland, to Emil Widmer, a master mechanic … Continue reading →

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