Monthly Archives: August 2011

Testification

Posted on August 17, 2011 by sputterpub

A few weeks ago, Katie suggested testify for a word o’ the week. She’d heard that it came to us from testicle, because it’s what men used to swear on when they claimed to be telling the truth. “Oh cool,’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Language | 2 Comments

Posture

Posted on August 16, 2011 by sputterpub

This one is dedicated to those women who have tried marriage and not flourished in it, and who are not dead yet but are resistant to going there again. I can’t stay long – I’ll simply take a kiss if … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | 2 Comments

Black Bug’s Blood

Posted on August 15, 2011 by sputterpub

I just killed a big fat fly. He’d been cruising around my cottage since last night but he didn’t annoy me to murder till this morning. I obliterated him with the back of my little spiral notebook, and then I … Continue reading →

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But What is a Backwards Dessert?

Posted on August 12, 2011 by sputterpub

I like to think I discovered the fact that stressed is desserts spelled backwards, even though I now see cookbooks with that title. I first wrote a piece using the phrase around 1995. But let’s look at what it means. … Continue reading →

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My Racist Confession

Posted on August 11, 2011 by sputterpub

One day, probably 20 years ago or more, I was riding a rowdy bus. I can’t remember if it was an AC Transit vehicle or a San Francisco Muni, but I recall it as an afternoon event, traveling eastward in … Continue reading →

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Remembering Membrane

Posted on August 10, 2011 by sputterpub

Lately I’ve been screening some pop physics, which have led me into black holes and amid tiny strings and along membranes. The scientists say “branes” and then spell it out for us so we don’t envision astronomical monsters. It was … Continue reading →

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Rebuttal

Posted on August 9, 2011 by sputterpub

As far back as I can remember, I wanted to write. I’ve always loved stories and verse, and I’ve been dabbling with them, or more, since I learned to read in 1956. And at least through adolescence, I operated beneath … Continue reading →

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Sullied Soles

Posted on August 8, 2011 by sputterpub

I find it quite annoying when the bottoms of my shoes acquire stickiness. It can happen from picking up sidewalk gum, or if I pass under plum trees that have dropped their fruit (my brother Steve refers to those plants … Continue reading →

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A Particle in the Wave

Posted on August 5, 2011 by sputterpub

Our passages are similar to waves: insistent flow as seldom marking quirks as calibrated clouds. Each class behaves in pulses – curving average made of jerks – except a freak of custom may be seen, occasional and rational and rare, … Continue reading →

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Merge Memory

Posted on August 4, 2011 by sputterpub

It was back when I was early married, and we were commuting out of San Francisco in the Corvair, so it couldn’t have been later than the mid-1970s. Those were the old days, when bridge tolls were all paid in … Continue reading →

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