Author Archives: sputterpub

Count Your Calories

Posted on September 25, 2017 by sputterpub

I spent two bits in 1968, to buy a little book put out by Dell. Its title – Count Your Calories – was great: the pamphlet matched my purpose very well. I’d dieted four years and added more than I … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavior Modification, Food, Health, Poetry | Leave a comment

That’s Not Funny

Posted on September 22, 2017 by sputterpub

In talking to a temporary friend I met on BART, before I knew him well enough to gauge his shallow depth and fend his crude advances off, I let him tell me (twice) what he’d endow if he were rich: … Continue reading →

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Instructions

Posted on September 21, 2017 by sputterpub

The renegade conformist sheepishly insists the application must be typed. He says they won’t accept facsimile because it isn’t doubled, folded, striped the same. “Impeccable,” the man demands, who seldom notes appearances. “It must be typed, in ink, just so.” … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavior Modification, Poetry | Leave a comment

Home

Posted on September 20, 2017 by sputterpub

Eleven years ago, I bought this place: a single-room abode built sixty years before I moved. I thought I’d use the space most weeks, and share a habitat with dears at times, a state away. I’d have two homes. But … Continue reading →

Posted in Home, Poetry | Leave a comment

The Piercing

Posted on September 19, 2017 by sputterpub

My baby had the cutest little nose – Unsuffocatable that button was like every other infant’s; heaven knows design for life, so heaven perfect does. And as she grew, it stayed adorable – She seemed to train it upward with … Continue reading →

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Stripey and the Yard Birds

Posted on September 18, 2017 by sputterpub

I saw two hummingbirds beneath the crows that visited, the bold above the shy. The corvids sat the looming tree, in rows of roosting gossip, as trochilidae sought nectar from the blossoms in the yard (the nicotiniana over sage). The … Continue reading →

Posted in Critters, Neighborhood, Poetry | Leave a comment

Fatigue

Posted on September 15, 2017 by sputterpub

I wish I had a lover with a plan for something new we’d do with this weekend. I wouldn’t mind attention from a man, and company I’d welcome in a friend. But I don’t long for anyone I’ve had and … Continue reading →

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Wasted Worry

Posted on September 14, 2017 by sputterpub

I lived a half a year past 66 and called my age the number of the beast. The digits made 18 (mathematic tricks), and that’s the Chai denoting life, at least. Numerical coincidence aside, the fact is I’ve lived long … Continue reading →

Posted in Aging, Poetry | Leave a comment

From the Molehill

Posted on September 13, 2017 by sputterpub

A few years ago, the city of Berkeley installed a new variety of street crossing signals. On some busy corridors we now have the option of pressing a button for assistance. That will cause yellow lights to pulse for about … Continue reading →

Posted in Neighborhood | Leave a comment

Deep Desert

Posted on September 12, 2017 by sputterpub

The morning air is tricky, with a haze that to my coastal eyes appears as mist, befogging distance for my sweeping gaze, but air this low cannot be moisture-kissed. It must be made from something I don’t know, some flotsam … Continue reading →

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