Tag Archives: language

Guide for the Perplexed

Posted on July 1, 2025 by JMN

“… When I don’t know what to do next, I tend to throw everything at it, be as expressive or as minimalist or as detailed as I can, reach for bright colours or keep it monochrome, look intensely or scribble … Continue reading →

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Spasms of Lunacy: Triolet

Posted on June 29, 2025 by JMN

There are lessons to be found in these ancient desks where many hearts are gouged.(Peter Kline) A There are lessons to be found in theseB Halls where horny boys now dead had trudged. c The ancient desks where many hearts … Continue reading →

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‘Ebullient, Rigorous and Boastfully Esoteric’

Posted on June 23, 2025 by JMN

Walker Mimms’s treatment of Hilma af Klint is elegant, lyrical, explicit. Ebullient, rigorous and boastfully esoteric, these “Nature Studies,” as she called them, reveal the didactic side of a pioneer in nonliteral art. This is an economical show of some … Continue reading →

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Campaign in Poetry, Govern in Fiction

Posted on June 20, 2025 by JMN

“Eggs have come down 400%. Everybody has eggs now.”— Trump, apparently unaware prices can only drop 100% Say What? Archive No no, it’s true. Eggs aren’t only FREE now, grocery stores are PAYING customers to walk out with plenty of … Continue reading →

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Caviar Bumps at Butterworth’s: Triolet

Posted on June 18, 2025 by JMN

A The scene is festive. Where the flames are fedB Tainted choirs croon, “More and more is less.”c Spuds fried in tallow — gag me with a spoon!A The scene is festive where the flames are fed.a In the eyes, … Continue reading →

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Before Bidding Eau de Revoir to the May Issue

Posted on June 16, 2025 by JMN

Here’s something called a triolet from Poetry, May 2025. The form is new to me and strikes a chord: concision, repetition, the discipline imposed. Triolet with a Line by Sylvia Plathby Brittany Perham We take the N out to the … Continue reading →

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Pride Goeth Before a Parade

Posted on June 13, 2025 by JMN

They say: A man who can’t tell shoe polish from shinola is fit to be tied by time and the tide. It’s one of those old sayings they say is never insufficient to the day thereof.  They say: A stitch … Continue reading →

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Nice Day. Be a Shame You Didn’t Have One.

Posted on June 7, 2025 by JMN

Where the living language is concerned, which let’s face it. So.  Can you spot the tuber posing as a goober? What about a dangled thought left to? Hip to messaging that carries false report? Words happening metaphorically, knot in real … Continue reading →

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‘His Technique Can Be Potently Slapdash’

Posted on May 31, 2025 by JMN

If the images in the survey feel more like news than comment, that’s partly because we can sense the press photos Shahn used as his sources. Though his paintings themselves aren’t close to photorealistic — his technique can be potently … Continue reading →

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‘That Falls Well’: Cartoon Paean Times Three

Posted on May 26, 2025 by JMN

As a kid studying high school French, I read with delight Mark Twain’s depiction of an American’s attempt to converse with a Frenchman. Twain wickedly renders the Frenchman’s remarks in literal English, alongside his own fractured French, to comic effect. … Continue reading →

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