Monthly Archives: April 2015

The Sad Way to Break a Bad Habit (3 of 3)

Posted on April 16, 2015 by sputterpub

Annie saw the periodontist again a month ago. He poked and scraped, knocked and gouged, and then sat back and said, “Will you consider a nightguard?” She felt sardonic. “Probably not,” she replied. “Why?” “Your teeth show signs of the … Continue reading →

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The Sad Way to Break a Bad Habit (2 of 3)

Posted on April 15, 2015 by sputterpub

As she got older Annie became self-conscious about the activity and its traces. Of course she tried to break the habit, and sometimes – in a vacation environment – she’d leave her hands alone long enough to see healing, to … Continue reading →

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The Sad Way to Break a Bad Habit (1 of 3)

Posted on April 14, 2015 by sputterpub

And it came to pass that Annie learned to leave her fingertips alone. She was 65. She had started snacking on her own skin before she was 12. A mere half century or so. She wasn’t born with the habit. … Continue reading →

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After the Retreat

Posted on April 13, 2015 by sputterpub

They forecast yesterday tomorrow’s storm but let us bask until then in the sun, so I am walk-commuting April warm and morning clear, inclined almost to run I’m so impending with my rite of spring. I learned a little bit … Continue reading →

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Opus One

Posted on April 10, 2015 by sputterpub

Inside myself with glee of me I sing. I build atonal choral club of one. Within my skin I harmonize this spring; I buried habit in apparel spun from caterpillar dreams. Now showers bring anointment to the gardens, as the … Continue reading →

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Base Ten (Part 3 of 3)

Posted on April 9, 2015 by sputterpub

Dinah read once that if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there. She loved her friend, but Annie could have been a poster child for the epigram. She’d never had a plan. She’d never made … Continue reading →

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Base Ten (Part 2 of 3)

Posted on April 8, 2015 by sputterpub

She thought about Dinah-2005. She tried to summon up an image of her. She glimpsed someone who had strands of still-dark hair around her face. A body ten pounds lighter than Dinah in 2015, housing a mind more unhappy with … Continue reading →

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Base Ten (Part 1 of 3)

Posted on April 7, 2015 by sputterpub

Mark dropped Dinah off after a full day. They worked in what had been their father’s office, so they spent almost as much time together as married folks. In fact, they’d been taken for a couple a number of times, … Continue reading →

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April 6th (2001)

Posted on April 6, 2015 by sputterpub

The arctic always greets us one more time in April, pasting petals to concrete. Replaying slaps of winter, we sublime to cold without between, and every street is blossom-plastered, every bark is damp, the sky is an enclosing pewter dome. … Continue reading →

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Piano (Piece Five of Five)

Posted on April 3, 2015 by sputterpub

Robert wasn’t attracted to me either. If it weren’t for the fact that he’d been in a relationship with a woman for twenty years and even married her when she was terminally ill (the poor woman managed to get the … Continue reading →

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