adjective

adverb

advertising

alphabet

America

American

anthologist

anthology

anxiety of influence

aphorism

appliance

avant-garde

blank verse

blurb

book

bookcase

Boston Marathon

butterfly

cage

cemetery

chance

China

circumstance

city

civilization

clock

composition

compound word

confessional poem

confessional poetry

conspiracy theory

contrarian

couplet

craft

crisis

critic

critical theory

criticism

determinism

difficulty

disaster

divine

editor

epic poem

evil

experience

exposing

fashion

folk singer

form

function

glutton

gold

Google

haiku

heaven

hero

imagery

imagination

immortality

influence

Installation art

interview

journalism

language

last line

laughter

list

literature

love poem

manager

Mangrove poetry

manifesto

mankind

manners

maturity

memory

metaphor

meter

modernism

monarchy

monument

mountain

music

nobility

noun

novice

opinion

Oulipo

painting

parable

paradox

paranoia

parody

passion

perfection

performance

period

philosopher

A noun is not a word; it’s an image forming out of an alphabetic mist. A verb is a blurred noun. An adjective is a noun’s coat of paint. An adverb is a verb’s extravagant flourish. And the other parts of speech just don’t matter. Newer Posts Older Posts Home

is the confection alongside the sustenance of nouns and verbs.

Nouns and verbs are sustenance. But ah, the confection of certain adjectives.

is a field that benefits from the notion that their influence is absolute.

Advertisers benefit from the notion that their influence is absolute.

is a place that will always be a special case.

is a people who demands the right of privacy for everyone except their celebrities.

Americans demand the right of privacy for everyone except their celebrities.

The anthologist was guilty of aesthetic cleansing. Newer Posts Older Posts

is for finding a few representative poems by minor poets.

An anthology is for finding a few representative poems by minor poets. Large collected and selected poems are the go-to source for the bigger names. Do you read Ginsberg or Creeley in an anthology? Perhaps just a quick check of the contents page to see which poems were chosen. But generally we skip the big names in favor of sampling those poets whose work is less familiar or less widely available.

is concerned also with the effort not to repeat the errors of the precursors.

Part of the ‘anxiety of influence’ relates to the effort not to repeat the errors of the precursors.

 makes you squint like when a stray ray of light hits the corner of your eye.

An aphorism makes you squint like when a stray ray of light hits the corner of your eye.

Aphorism: a verse that won’t be turned.

A manifesto makes room for the aphorism. The aphorism is made for a manifesto.

is made by artists and by the critics who recognize it in all its itness.

Art is made by artists and by the critics who recognize it in all its itness.

is frequently mistaking the word ‘new’ for a value descriptor when it is merely a temporal marker.

Avant-gardists frequently mistake the word ‘new’ for a value descriptor when it is merely a temporal marker.

postmodernism

is a movement after which all Art aspired to a condition of Muzak.

After Post-Modernism: All Art aspired to a condition of Muzak.

sonnet

's subject should strain the ambit of the form.

The subject of a sonnet should strain the ambit of the form.

writer's block

is when the letters lie buried in an avalanche of whiteness. You can hear only muffled cries, but can’t make out any words.

Block: The letters lie buried in an avalanche of whiteness. You can hear only muffled cries, but can’t make out any words.

is when the page is a snowfield, deep and unmarked to the far edge.

Block: The page a snowfield, deep and unmarked to the far edge.

Jim FinneganThinkers

Jim Finnegan