Author Archives: sputterpub

Editing

Posted on January 5, 2015 by sputterpub

Respectfully I edit what I wrote three days ago, reviewing it for gist and attitude. To get it I must quote myself in love, by composition blissed and wit remarked. A question begged or left to hang will hang the … Continue reading →

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Walking the Dog

Posted on January 2, 2015 by sputterpub

Outside the library, there grows a yard of lawn-like grass, a triangle of green, where canines bred to hunt, retrieve, or guard review the scents of passers-by. The scene around that place, amid the dirt and dew, appears the same … Continue reading →

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The Loneliest New Year’s Eve (Y2K)

Posted on December 31, 2014 by sputterpub

Alone I’ll be to say a wet goodbye to all the years that start with 1 and 9. My house will echo as the dog and I make mumble-face and forelegs intertwine. Admittedly I’ll long for company, imagining a corny … Continue reading →

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First Job in Second Person

Posted on December 30, 2014 by sputterpub

If you were me, you were born in early January. That makes your sun sign Capricorn, and nowhere near a cusp. You never studied astrology, and you were skeptical when you encountered it in 1967, but there was no avoiding … Continue reading →

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Air

Posted on December 29, 2014 by sputterpub

The sky is falling on my head today. Thrice rain-beset by storms, my brow is kissed precipitantly as I wend my way to work. The atmosphere is filled with mist, the air is saturated, white as smoke and cool as … Continue reading →

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To An Ex

Posted on December 26, 2014 by sputterpub

I’m trying to imagine being you and I can’t find a place inside for fun, a room for play, a window with a view horizon-wide and open to the sun. Instead I see you crouch around your core, a bulwark … Continue reading →

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How It Wasn’t (Stop)

Posted on December 24, 2014 by sputterpub

Chris offered “Coffee? Tea? Water? Wine?” and I asked if there was any beer. There was. I had an Anchor Steam and hoped for analgesic effect. We discussed aging and the attraction to comfort. Agreed one had to resist that. … Continue reading →

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How It Wasn’t (Start)

Posted on December 23, 2014 by sputterpub

I walked up Spruce Street that Saturday, inadvertently stressing my lower back and wondering about the fault. It runs beneath Spruce or Euclid or the Arlington in my part of Berkeley, and I figured I was pacing along on top … Continue reading →

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Manipulation

Posted on December 22, 2014 by sputterpub

Manipulation is a two-edged blade that cuts for good with puppets, medicine and toys. Its nasty aspect is displayed in mob convection, seething from within but powered by an outside agency; or scheming mates who have an axe to grind … Continue reading →

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Comforter

Posted on December 19, 2014 by sputterpub

Impulsively white daffodils appear. Magnolia trees with purple taste the light before we’ve even ended the old year, before we dream beneath the longest night. The sun withdraws and sucks with it the spark of life in leaves, so liquidambar … Continue reading →

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