Author Archives: sputterpub

Coneheads (Part 1 of 2)

From the textbooks: two points suggest a line; three establish a plane. The triangle, elegant and easy, is the most stable, supportive form. The first shape. The image of a person, upright. A natural mountain. Tepee. Two is productive but … Continue reading

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Pepper Tree

A pepper tree ahead of me appears a graceful drape above an antique truck, reminding me of Chula Vistan years when our suburban hormones ran amok, when we were husbanded like citrus trees in Cinderella homes on furrowed blocks, our … Continue reading

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Skunk Skool

I think I’ve mentioned the skunks before. One or more seem to inhabit my yard full-time, although I only see, hear, and smell signs of skunks now and then. We try not to bother one another. I don’t mind the … Continue reading

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Xenometry

A hypercube is called a tesseract and can’t exist in three or four dimensions. It floats imaginary and exact, an edifice of logical extensions that I can neither build nor draw nor see, nor picture in the certainty of prose, … Continue reading

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The Book of J (Part V of V)

The afternoon of Joel’s impromptu visit, we took a stroll. We left Emmet with Laura and wandered the perimeter of the place. We ended up in the small eucalyptus grove near the cow barn. I remember the dialogue vividly and … Continue reading

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The Book of J (Part IV of V)

Joel was in all ways manipulative, and he played the kitten card with exquisite skill. He’d managed to hear little Emmet’s mews exactly when they served to interrupt us on a slide into old argument. He had left me and … Continue reading

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The Book of J (Part III of V)

It was under the influence of that powder that Joel confided his secrets. There’s no telling if any of them were true. It was another mild evening, we were again in the Old City, and we’d been separated from our … Continue reading

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(Ball and) Chain

I guess I cut an anchor chain last week and watched it sink to sand without a sound, but I don’t want a moorage I don’t seek and longer at that tether would have drowned respect and swamped esteem beneath … Continue reading

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Egocentricity

The candle in my belly is a light beneath my heart, a battery my feet imbibe, a pole of ribbons lancing height as I expand extremities with heat self-generated. Higher now I grow, forever stretching energy I spin above the … Continue reading

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The Book of J (Part II of V)

Joel was from Indiana (you never know what motifs will fill your life – for some reason mine has been salted with Hoosiers). He said he’d studied several martial arts, which could have been true, but I doubted his claim … Continue reading

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