Sefpoems

  Blank. Blankety-blank .   Yikes!   Here comes Arial, impersonal, vapid, straight-up-&-down-Arial. Quick! Get a serif font going!   How about Georgia for comfort?   Your eyes   want—no, need — a font that allows, even encodes a bit of human style. Yes, font matters.   We grandparents love looking back at our childhood   books with their primary colors and friendly letters—bad mistake to banish familiarity!   The Noxious-Grey Stylists have held sway for two decades and   more now, allowing only grey walls, grey floors, grey upholstery, grey cars   & computers, conceding an occasional teal or magenta accent pillow,   breathlessly announcing a new trim choice:   Treat Yourself to a Touch of RASPBERRY!     [Such daring! However do they contain themselves?] Maybe the market crash that has led to this recession will require  a campaign of riotess color to pull us out of this Relentless Grey Period? ...

Liminal I remember the smell of the screen door as I stood looking down at the scruffy patch of the small park where we kids played ball. It was still early summer— there would be   many days of ball playing before I started seventh grade at the Junior High. No more solitary walks across town to the to elementary   school. No one knew me there except Mr, Justice,   who was my teacher and the school’s principal.   I liked his smiling eyes.   He liked me because   I caught on fast, he said.   Good thing, too, because in Oberlin schools we hadn’t had grammar or handwriting.   Now I knew 8 parts of speech and how Palmer Method capital letters were   supposed to loop and swoop like barn swallows. I knew my life was changing.   Nancy was in 11th grade and already planning to go back to Oberlin for college. Which she did,   Nancy planned ahead. Pete didn’t.   He was super smart but didn’t like school, so never did homework.   Tha...

    A Word About Catsup

Mission Control Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to straighten up and fly right, hear me? And you get my ironic tone in should you choose to accept it, right?   Around here, you aren’t choosy about missions.   Commanding officers are the ones who do the choosing. Be proud that they find you worthy of their trust. They expressed that trust by choosing you.     Keep that in mind as you execute your mission. In the field, you sergeants become our executives as you put our commands into action.   Be ready, be quick, be accurate and faithful.   You are essential. God bless the weapons we deploy. God bless every one of you soldiers. God bless your mission, Troops. Amen. —Sef, 4/23/2025  

  Something for Today

The Plumbing Plan