Monthly Archives: September 2014

Fretful (1 of 3)

Posted on September 16, 2014 by sputterpub

Such a pretty face. Or it would be, if only she’d remember to… Or it used to be, before she took to… The truth is, the face is aging. The skin is beginning to sag on the skull. She props … Continue reading →

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BART Escalator

Posted on September 15, 2014 by sputterpub

The escalator steps appear to rise from unseen depths. The handrails, black on chrome, are rubber belts that serve to synchronize the plantar with the palm. Beneath a dome of sectioned glass the moving stairs ascend though no one rides … Continue reading →

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Maroon

Posted on September 12, 2014 by sputterpub

The man in front of me is playing rap – his radio invisible – aloud without an earphone on. He doesn’t clap but there’s an elemental beat as proud as myths of Africa, with lilting rhyme and lyric playing in … Continue reading →

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Morning After (End)

Posted on September 11, 2014 by sputterpub

I kept noticing the hair. In the front of the room around the semi-circular dais were eight council members and the mayor: all gray. The three men were lucky to have hair, for like their colleagues they were born in … Continue reading →

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Morning After (Middle)

Posted on September 10, 2014 by sputterpub

So my group wants to build teacher-only affordable rental housing. In the old Urban Safari store site, near the high school and the transit center. But “teachers-only” is too discriminatory for federal funds and maybe even for money from the … Continue reading →

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Morning After (Beginning)

Posted on September 9, 2014 by sputterpub

I like to ride the train facing backwards. Those seats are less popular so they’re more likely available. The ride is realistically mysterious. I learned thirty years ago that the ancient Greeks viewed themselves as moving backwards through life. Their … Continue reading →

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A Break Today

Posted on September 8, 2014 by sputterpub

Another patient would be filled with dread.A patient person might anticipatea dosage of discomfort. I insteadam almost eager for my dental date.I’m ready to recline and let him drillwho knows his work as well as I know mine.I get a … Continue reading →

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Hide and Seek

Posted on September 5, 2014 by sputterpub

The child’s father gives him fare to hell,releasing him with cigarettes and cashto Turk and something starting with an L.He’s cured of scabies and he’s acting rash. The adolescent’s daddy is a jerk,who can’t insist or guide and won’t enjoinfrom … Continue reading →

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Dig (2/2)

Posted on September 4, 2014 by sputterpub

Maggie has been married, twice. Aggie has known men (four). Their experiences have produced Maggie’s daughter Sarah (now twenty-six, working in Philadelphia, and happily pregnant), Agatha’s two abortions, various and sundry orgasms, and individual conclusions that neither wants marriage and … Continue reading →

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Dig (1/2)

Posted on September 3, 2014 by sputterpub

Oh the promises we make to babies. We hold those small bodies to our chests, we kiss their big sweet heads, and we murmur that we will care for them and never never never let them be hurt. Impossible promises … Continue reading →

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