Tag Archives: poetry

The Poem of as-Samau’al (Mid-6th Century AD): Verses 12-16

Posted on May 3, 2023 by JMN

This post is continued from here. Several themes lace the segment. Equine imagery around insemination and baby-bearing evokes the “purity” of the tribal blood lines. The virtue of generosity is touched upon, along with an ability to exert dominance through … Continue reading →

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The Poem of as-Samau’al (Mid-6th Century AD): Verses 6-11

Posted on April 22, 2023 by JMN

This post is continued from here. The segment evokes the lofty mountain refuge available to the speaker’s confederates, then exalts his tribe’s martial disposition and willingness to die in battle and avenge the fallen. 6 We have a mountain where … Continue reading →

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The Poem of as-Samau’al (Mid-6th Century AD): Verses 1-5

Posted on April 20, 2023 by JMN

The poem starts by positing traits that support a claim to being honorable and to merit good praise. Those traits are upstanding conduct and a capacity for resisting (enduring?) personal injury. Then, responding to provocation voiced by a woman, the … Continue reading →

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Sharon Olds: ‘I Want You Hour and Hour in My Line of Sight’

Posted on April 18, 2023 by JMN

Sharon Olds’s poem is called “To You, from Your Secret Admirer,” and it’s part of the selection contained in Poetry April 2023. It’s the steamiest poem I’ve read since encountering Louise Labé in college French and learning the ramifications of … Continue reading →

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Sharon Olds: ‘Nothing False Will Be Spoken’

Posted on April 16, 2023 by JMN

I traversed Sharon Olds’s selection of poems in Poetry (April 2023) fresh in the morning and they entered me fluently, with almost no friction. It’s a rare and wonderful reading experience where POMAG fare is concerned. This has happened to … Continue reading →

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‘All Good Writers Think They Suck’

Posted on April 14, 2023 by JMN

My title quotes a spicy remark by Harlan Coben on a British talk show aired on March 24th. He continued: “Only bad writers think they’re good. We all get beat up. We all have impostor syndrome.” Coben’s comments contrast pertly … Continue reading →

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Foobar to Fix ‘They’

Posted on April 12, 2023 by JMN

To automate Spanish verb conjugation with Java code I created variables to hold the gamut of subject pronouns available to English and Spanish. Here were the varieties of “you”: String youS = null; // “you” singular familiar = “tú”String YouS … Continue reading →

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‘I Am on the Side of Tears’

Posted on March 31, 2023 by JMN

“All we can do now is pray.” Famous last words. Prayer is the recourse of the desperate when there’s no recourse. It’s the last croak from the isthmus of the fauces before humanity lies facedown in the mud. When you … Continue reading →

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Ann Lauterbach’s ‘Blue Door’: It’s Open

Posted on March 27, 2023 by JMN

THE BLUE DOOR(Ann Lauterbach, Poetry March 2023) The obligatory cancels its strophe. Let me get a grip,and begin in this other patch where the air is. “I caught a whiff of poem on the wind straightaway, which is an exceedingly … Continue reading →

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Pausing With Your Eyes

Posted on March 25, 2023 by JMN

I’ve looked into what the exaggerated gaps between words or phrases in lines of verse are all about, curious whether or not they should affect my reading and, if so, how. A writer named Emilia Phillips calls them visual caesuras … Continue reading →

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