Tag Archives: language

What’s in a Name?

Posted on March 16, 2024 by JMN

Ask César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, holder of the Gregory Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at Ohio State University. Ask Atahualpa Yupanqui (1908-1992), born Héctor Roberto Chavero Aramburu, holder of a guitar in Argentina. Ask Helen-Marie Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, wife … Continue reading →

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‘Romer’s Gap’ by Tian-Ai

Posted on March 13, 2024 by JMN

‘Romer’s Gap’ by Tian-Ai is published in Poetry, January/February 2024. Romer’s gap, supratidal, intertidal, subtidal, fly agaric, snailfish, and aphotic are terms I boned up on in scaling the text. Italic print sets off three sections, headed by the tidal … Continue reading →

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Who Would, You Know, Think It?

Posted on March 6, 2024 by JMN

“People who are coming from parts unknown, countries that you’ve never heard of. Languages that nobody in this country speaks. We don’t even have teachers of some of these languages. Who would think that we have languages that are like … Continue reading →

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Invasion of the Disembodied Tongues

Posted on March 2, 2024 by JMN

“People who don’t speak languages. We have languages coming into our country, nobody that speaks those languages. They’re truly foreign languages. Nobody speaks them.” (Trump) https://www.washingtonpost.com/doonesbury/ Make America laisser les bons temps rouler again. ¡Ándale, buey! (c) 2024 JMN — … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged | 3 Comments

George Tscherny (1924-2023): Ad Artist

Posted on March 1, 2024 by JMN

He recognized from an early age the way that high art and commercial art overlapped, blended together and even nestled inside each other. I called myself a space salesman when I worked in newspaper advertising. When I was made ad … Continue reading →

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‘Poetry Doesn’t Need Music’

Posted on February 22, 2024 by JMN

Poetry doesn’t need music. All of its music is contained in print on the page.(PJ Harvey) People try to tell me I’m a poet and I say, No, I have music and rhythm to help me get my point across … Continue reading →

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‘Heartfelt, Slapdash, But Unredeemed by Art’

Posted on February 18, 2024 by JMN

Art is something scrappy and strange; it may hiss rather than purr. How it redeems, presumably, is at the heart of the critic’s project, but also the lay consumer’s. That’s me. In doodling my readings of <clears throat> lineated discourse, … Continue reading →

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His First Word Was ‘Pencil’

Posted on February 16, 2024 by JMN

“What I’ve come to realize after 30 years of research is that the pictorial output of Picasso basically consists of drawings rendered in paint. His entire oeuvre is conceived, anticipated and elaborated through drawing.” (Anne Baldassari) Give my my pencil, … Continue reading →

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Muscle of the Cheek

Posted on February 14, 2024 by JMN

… The buccinator assists the muscles of mastication. It aids whistling and smiling, and in neonates it is used to suckle. (Wikipedia) It’s also useful for reciting poetry. I met buccinator (BUCKS-i-nater), an ancient horn tooter, in the poem “Sissy … Continue reading →

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Frans Hals ‘Bet Everything on Portraiture’

Posted on February 11, 2024 by JMN

Hals bet everything on portraiture… It was a profession, not a calling. His job was to disappear into the paint. (Zachary Fine) For me Vermeer is glassy and distant where Hals is rudely… reachable. The tossed-off affect of his paintings’ … Continue reading →

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