Author Archives: sputterpub

Joy (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on April 10, 2013 by sputterpub

She said, “People ought to be careful what they call their kids. I’m just now starting to learn how damaged I was by my nickname.” (Joy. She’s called Joy.) “I kept trying to live up to it. Always had to … Continue reading →

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Goose Summer

Posted on April 9, 2013 by sputterpub

I looked up “gossamer” some years ago, and I was charmed. But when I prepared to post a piece with that title recently, and searched for a picture on Google Images, no geese came up. I could feel the original … Continue reading →

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Ruler

Posted on April 8, 2013 by sputterpub

I start to learn the length and breadth of you, and every day I like a little more the message in your deep caress, and through your stroke a stretch I haven’t known before. You hold my neck with fingers … Continue reading →

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Self-Medication

Posted on April 5, 2013 by sputterpub

Self-medication is the course for me to lever out of this reverse plateau of dismal mood, abysmal density, of slogging in an attitude so low or lonely I don’t even know what’s worse: a dearth of all excitement, silent, skewed; … Continue reading →

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Resolved (2 of 2)

Posted on April 4, 2013 by sputterpub

“I’m sick,” Hannah says by way of explaining her presence and her appearance, “and I’m supposed to be reading board resolutions.” Buck doesn’t hear her correctly. That’s because one of the local walkers is passing by, and that has started … Continue reading →

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Resolved (1 of 2)

Posted on April 3, 2013 by sputterpub

Hannah is an anti-historian. That started when she couldn’t master history in school; she who aced elementary and junior high classes without doing any homework couldn’t pull a B on a history quiz. She read and reread fiction at the … Continue reading →

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Rehab

Posted on April 2, 2013 by sputterpub

I know some folks who want to rehabilitate the swastika. That’s what they say and I love them, so I believe it. Frankly, I think their goal is more futile than attempting to stop the evolution of language or the … Continue reading →

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The Gardener’s 48th Birthday

Posted on April 1, 2013 by sputterpub

With purple mint the gardener conversed, while students had an Easter break from school. He dug a hole on March the 31st and called himself an aging April fool. He stuck bromeliads in rotting wood and traced the snaking irrigation … Continue reading →

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Prologue

Posted on March 29, 2013 by sputterpub

We talk to babies with a curling tongue and rounded lips; we teach them fairy tales, corral them in a chorus when they’re young and try for something every parent fails to get: the power to control their taste. Asserting … Continue reading →

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Monica Says (3 of 3)

Posted on March 28, 2013 by sputterpub

At first she was irritated. Then irked. She tried to modulate her negativity, but Monica grew waspish. Simon responded with anxiety and tripled his efforts to please her. He began guessing at what she desired and conforming his own choices … Continue reading →

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