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An illustration from a 1903 issue of Punch magazine. |
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| I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought |
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"I must breathe in and breathe out, regularly, steadily, evenly, deeply. . . . In—out—in—out—in—out—that's right! I'll manage if I go on—I'll get there if I go on." — John Cowper Powys, PoriusHere's the link to our Breathing Circle, the most popular interactive feature on this site. |
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An illustration from an 1876 issue of Punch magazine. |
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An illustration of an owl tent from an 1899 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.
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An illustration from an 1883 issue of Punch magazine. |
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A precursor to the cult television series The Prisoner: Even as a baby, he would not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. (This illustration, by William Donahey, is from The Green Book magazine, 1916.) The caption reads, "Number? Number, please?" |
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An illustration from an 1850 issue of Punch magazine. |
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An illustration from a 1914 issue of Scribner's magazine.
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If only all terrible reviews could be of this caliber, fewer authors might be driven to drink. Dr. Thomas Hodd, of the Université de Moncton, reviewed our Franzlations (a guide to the imaginary Kafka parables) for the Journal of Canadian Poetry, Volume 28. Long story short, our book is worse than cancerous poetry (quite literally, he says it compares unfavorably to a specific book of poems about cancer that should have been left on the hospital bed and not published). Franzlations, he says, is "more like an artifact than a book of poetry" — criticism we will take on the chin with a British stiff-upper-lip (as it were). Our "images and phrases begin to resonate, although for what purpose is unclear since the esotericism implied within these pages feels contrived, and ultimately fails to extend beyond the pages of the book" — to which we retort, " That's what they said about The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus!" But in all seriousness, esoteric is defined as being intended for a small number of people with a specialized knowledge, so if the esotericism of Franzlations were to be unleashed from the pages of the book, it would transmute into exotericism (intended for the general public), an idea that causes our corrosive juices to reflux. As we meditate upon Dr. Hodd's scathing conclusion, we have to smile (enigmatically, to be sure), because to be "neither poetry nor art," neither words nor images, is very Zen. Dr. Hodd has inadvertently acknowledged that we've attained enlightenment.
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An illustration from a 1903 issue of Punch magazine. The caption reads: "Peace crowns the old year." |
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Science dances with the fairy radium in 1903 as today. An illustration from a 1903 issue of Punch magazine. |
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An illustration from an 1867 issue of Punch magazine. |
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"What a night for spirits and kelpies, warlocks, fairies, pixies, nixies, and sperrimongles! Assuredly, if ever there could be a spot and a moment when this dull work-a-day world is surrendered to the absolute dominion of elfin powers, it much be here and it must be now!" — Agatha: A Fanciful Flight for a Gusty Night by George Halse, 1860. |
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Original Content Copyright © 2026 by Craig Conley. All rights reserved.
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