Author Archives: sputterpub

Regarding Henry

Posted on May 23, 2011 by sputterpub

   My middle grandson is a big handsome boy. He’s now three years old but he’s always had those traits. A large newborn, a lusty nursling, Henry has thick curling blonde hair, intense blue eyes, button nose, generous mouth, and dimples. … Continue reading →

Posted in Kidspeak | Leave a comment

North Coast

Posted on May 20, 2011 by sputterpub

In fact it was Sea Ranch, and the year was 1997, but the season is now. The cypress branches eddy on the breeze like kelp in ocean currents. Ravens ride the tidal air above wind-twisted trees. Below, the ocean creams … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Leave a comment

My Other Best Friend

Posted on May 19, 2011 by sputterpub

   Soon after we moved to Marin County in 1965 I met Ellen, the sister I never had, my soul friend. We were not similar – we came from very different families – but we agreed about what was important: … Continue reading →

Posted in Food, School | Leave a comment

Versus

Posted on May 18, 2011 by sputterpub

Recently Otto and Henry discovered the MAD show on cartoon network, and that led to the original Mad magazine, much to their parents’ delight. Particularly popular with them is the “Spy vs Spy” series, on TV and also in print. … Continue reading →

Posted in Language | Leave a comment

Literary Magazine

Posted on May 17, 2011 by sputterpub

   There was a literary magazine at my high school in Larkspur, but it was difficult to have one’s work selected if one wasn’t on the staff, and it was difficult to get on the staff if one was new to … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, School | Leave a comment

Telegrams

Posted on May 16, 2011 by sputterpub

     There was a time when the only way to send an instantaneous message across distance was the telegram. Morse code was used, and electrical wires, and the customer so respected the cost that brevity was more than wit: it … Continue reading →

Posted in Lessons | Leave a comment

Epithalamion

Posted on May 13, 2011 by sputterpub

Here is my favorite acrostic sonnet. I composed it the first week of 2000, and the occasion was my daughter’s marriage. The sonnet form is always a challenge. Trying to say it all in 14 lines, making every syllable count, … Continue reading →

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Serpentine

Posted on May 12, 2011 by sputterpub

     When I was around 7 years old, I had my first acquaintance with rattlesnakes. There were two boys named John in the neighborhood that extended around us, and the fat one’s dad raised snakes for venom. Mostly we played … Continue reading →

Posted in Critters | Leave a comment

Scuttlebutt

Posted on May 11, 2011 by sputterpub

I never thought about the word until I encountered it in the autobiography of Mark Twain. He reported on the term not from his Mississippi River days, but from his experiences in the ocean around Hawaii. He wrote that the … Continue reading →

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Bad Poetry

Posted on May 10, 2011 by sputterpub

     Be warned: what follows is a really bad poem. I am posting it partly as encouragement to any young poet: yes, your work will probably be as full of itself as this, at first. This is an example of … Continue reading →

Posted in Lessons, Poetry | Leave a comment