Category Archives: Poetry

Multitasking

Posted on July 19, 2011 by sputterpub

One day two years ago, Lisa asked why we think it’s good to multitask, and her question stopped me cold. I couldn’t come up with a good answer. I’ve given the subject more thought since, and I am boggled at … Continue reading →

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Indelible

Posted on July 15, 2011 by sputterpub

I knew a man once who had a couple of sons, and he loved them with all his heart. But he viewed his boys as the sort of noble savages folks say Rousseau described – he figured that, left to … Continue reading →

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Condiments

Posted on July 12, 2011 by sputterpub

  They say variety’s a lively spice, but I think there are hotter condiments. A stress of any kind makes me feel twice as much as difference does. And for immense enlivening, anxiety’s the seed more mustardy, the pepper without … Continue reading →

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The Job

Posted on July 8, 2011 by sputterpub

  “I’m not a-skeered o’ you,” I declare to my offspring, even though she’s now almost 418 months old and he’s nearly 349. Talk about whistling in the dark – they terrify me. My children are passionate, capable of expressing … Continue reading →

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Retirement Savings

Posted on July 5, 2011 by sputterpub

     Don’t shoot me if I sound insensitive. I know many of us are living off savings or otherwise struggling to get by. But my job is about retirement plans for small businesses, so I interact regularly with people who … Continue reading →

Posted in Lessons, Money Stuff, Poetry | 2 Comments

Symbiosis

Posted on July 1, 2011 by sputterpub

  Sometimes I compose a science sonnet. In my opinion the form is not limited to love poems or landscape descriptions. I like the rules of containment that sonnets carry: how the limits make me drill into the subject and enter … Continue reading →

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Inaudible Woman

Posted on June 28, 2011 by sputterpub

You see me though I don’t make any sound no matter what I do or where I move. My heart beats silently and won’t be found by ear or stethoscope, and I can’t prove I breathe or chew by any … Continue reading →

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Wraith

Posted on June 24, 2011 by sputterpub

   I encountered different hints at origin when I looked up “wraith” in my Webster’s Unabridged (1979) and on the Internet. I googled the word and peeked at the first four definitional sites, and all of them said “origin unknown.” … Continue reading →

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Rats

Posted on June 21, 2011 by sputterpub

I’m sitting in my Berkeley office, which is an uninsulated small structure described by building inspectors as a pretty shed. It has a big desk, plenty of wiring, and several windows, so it’s a nice spot for working in or … Continue reading →

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Decompression

Posted on June 10, 2011 by sputterpub

   I did some desert camping in the 1990s, and I was surprised at how much I liked it. Always before I’d headed for the mountains or the seashore, but in my 40s I began to appreciate the silence, solitude, and … Continue reading →

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