Monthly Archives: August 2012

Back to School

Posted on August 31, 2012 by sputterpub

How sweet the sight of newsprint widest ruled, with alternating lines an inch apart. On such a surface we were early schooled to print our letters. Now as then we start the kids with solid guidelines high and low, a … Continue reading →

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Coneheads (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on August 30, 2012 by sputterpub

Semites are Semites, and their brains remained binary. There wasn’t any possibility of interbreeding with Sumerians, and if there’s ever been a binary-to-trinary natural mutation, it must not have survived to be reported; none of us have heard of it. … Continue reading →

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Coneheads (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on August 29, 2012 by sputterpub

From the textbooks: two points suggest a line; three establish a plane. The triangle, elegant and easy, is the most stable, supportive form. The first shape. The image of a person, upright. A natural mountain. Tepee. Two is productive but … Continue reading →

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Pepper Tree

Posted on August 28, 2012 by sputterpub

A pepper tree ahead of me appears a graceful drape above an antique truck, reminding me of Chula Vistan years when our suburban hormones ran amok, when we were husbanded like citrus trees in Cinderella homes on furrowed blocks, our … Continue reading →

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Skunk Skool

Posted on August 27, 2012 by sputterpub

I think I’ve mentioned the skunks before. One or more seem to inhabit my yard full-time, although I only see, hear, and smell signs of skunks now and then. We try not to bother one another. I don’t mind the … Continue reading →

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Xenometry

Posted on August 24, 2012 by sputterpub

A hypercube is called a tesseract and can’t exist in three or four dimensions. It floats imaginary and exact, an edifice of logical extensions that I can neither build nor draw nor see, nor picture in the certainty of prose, … Continue reading →

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The Book of J (Part V of V)

Posted on August 23, 2012 by sputterpub

The afternoon of Joel’s impromptu visit, we took a stroll. We left Emmet with Laura and wandered the perimeter of the place. We ended up in the small eucalyptus grove near the cow barn. I remember the dialogue vividly and … Continue reading →

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The Book of J (Part IV of V)

Posted on August 22, 2012 by sputterpub

Joel was in all ways manipulative, and he played the kitten card with exquisite skill. He’d managed to hear little Emmet’s mews exactly when they served to interrupt us on a slide into old argument. He had left me and … Continue reading →

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The Book of J (Part III of V)

Posted on August 21, 2012 by sputterpub

It was under the influence of that powder that Joel confided his secrets. There’s no telling if any of them were true. It was another mild evening, we were again in the Old City, and we’d been separated from our … Continue reading →

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(Ball and) Chain

Posted on August 20, 2012 by sputterpub

I guess I cut an anchor chain last week and watched it sink to sand without a sound, but I don’t want a moorage I don’t seek and longer at that tether would have drowned respect and swamped esteem beneath … Continue reading →

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