Author Archives: sputterpub

Okay

I breakfasted on anger years ago. I took in news with coffee, always struck by crazy folks, surreal reports, a show of mob-bemused insanity. I’d buck at paragraphs that can’t be proven, know my mind and no one else’s, have … Continue reading

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Copywrong (II of II)

She read the poem to her next door neighbors. She adored Barbara and she despised Barry; she showed it to them both. She didn’t know whether she did that to add to her pride or her shame; she just couldn’t … Continue reading

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Copywrong (I of II)

Melanie composed her first poem when she was six. She’d been reading poetry with her father as long as she could remember, so it was natural for her first work to be metered and rhyming. She wasn’t exactly a girly … Continue reading

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Death (Edited)

Sarcastic death, ironic circumstance: the wit may be divine but it feels mean, undignified or futile, for the dance the reaper leads is not a noble scene. Or when it is, its rareness makes it so as much as principle … Continue reading

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Training

They deemed it sinister, not long ago, to let a child write without his right. They must have thought the student didn’t know which hand would work the best; they loathed the sight. We hear they forced the child from … Continue reading

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Tanks

Our transport is an armored war machine: a road unto itself in black and white. We wheel on inexorably between the contours of depression and delight. Anxiety and ecstasy and pain we know; we take the valley and the height, … Continue reading

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Absentia (End)

If the teacher noticed Melanie’s presence, she didn’t let on. She took attendance but didn’t remark about the one unresponsive student, and then she started the students at crayons. Susie made her usual drawing of a square house with symmetrical … Continue reading

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Absentia (Middle)

Melanie and Susie were enrolled in a kindergarten-only school. A small public building had been commandeered by a school district struggling with the deluge of post-war babies who had attained the entry age of five and acquired all the necessary … Continue reading

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Absentia (Beginning)

Melanie at five and a half had long black hair and big brown eyes. She was of medium height and normal body shape, and her skin showed a light olive cast. She had a two year old brother who entertained … Continue reading

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Artemis

She’s hunting in the language of her birth, encompassing the landscape with a view to catch the drama of the rolling earth, the heat of rampant life, its form and hue. Invoking wings for ankles made of clay, detecting roots … Continue reading

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