Friday, August 1, 2014

Un-penned

It is an ordinary
Instrument
Ink and a container
To keep my fingers
From getting blue
(though they still do)
Yet
It holds all dreams
And fears
Just by pressing
Pen to paper
It
Releases my words
To the world
Laying on the table
Or desk
It could be a stick
But in fact
It's filled with magic

This is offered for Peggy's prompt at Poetry Jam poetryjaam.blogspot.com to write about something ordinary.  I write a lot of poetry on my electronic tablet, but I love the flow of pen and paper, scratching things out, rearranging.  It feels like magic.  Happy Weekend!

30 comments:

  1. Sara, I do remember when I used to write on paper. It really has a different feel to it, and sometime I miss the feel of the pen on paper. I like the idea of the pen holding all dreams and fears. Yep, true... Writing is a good way to make them come alive!

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    1. Hi Mary! Most of my writing I do on my computer or Samsung tablet, but sometimes I just need to feel pen and paper, cross outs and everything. :-)

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  2. I realized a few weeks ago that I now write with a pen so rarely, at least extensively, that it felt weird to write several handwritten pages. It made me a bit nostalgic for the days when I had a fountain pen. And I agree that real pens hold more magic than the tablet.

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    1. Hi Gabriella! Yes, I do most of my writing electronically too. But I have always loved pens, and fountain pens are wonderful! :-)

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  3. The pen - so ordinary . . . and yet. "“The pen is the tongue of the mind” from The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra," So true. The pen allows us to put to paper that, which never would come up in conversation. A wonderful write!

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    1. Hi Wendy! What a wonderful quote! Thank you so much d for sharing that with me :-)

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  4. Lovely Sara. You brought out the magic of the pen very well! It has been many years since I stopped writing on paper with a pen--how sad to realize that! Thank you for posting!

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    1. Hi Peggy! I am mostly electronic too, but pens and paper are fun to return to once in awhile... like when there's no WiFi. ;-)

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  5. I rarely use a pen or pencil except to scribble shopping lists. Before ....I use to scratch out poems on shopping dockets and bits would be strewn in unlikely places. A lot of the magic has left our lives with the tablet. Good poem.!

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    1. Hi Rallentanda! Yes, even my shopping lists are on my phone...and my random writings on bits of paper do tend to go missing...thank you for the compliment :-)

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  6. Pen is mighty! Beautifully penned. :)

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  7. Love it, the pen releases a world of the extra ordinary, great poem

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  8. Love your tribute to the ordinary pen. So true that technology has taken over so much that we just let our fingers do the writing. Loved your poem.

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    1. Hi Suzy! Thank you very much, I'm so glad you enjoyed it :-)

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  9. just an ordinary pen...until it is in the hand of someone that can use it...and i tend to get a little ink on my fingers as well....smiles.

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    1. Hi Brian! You understand, and nice to know that I'm not the only one who has blue fingers ;-)

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  10. Pens, ink paper and words..sheer magic...as you have demonstrated ;)

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  11. I still write notes and letters with pen and paper ... the pen may be a high end gel, but it does the job!

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    1. Hi Helen! So nice to see you. A nice gel pen is a treat! I used to buy all kinds of pens, gel is one of my favorites. Before computers in classrooms, the advice from one of our law school writing instructors was to buy a gel pen to save our hands, it made writing that much easier...:-)

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  12. I do so much with pencil and pen. Great poem

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    1. Hi Rae! There's nothing like drawing with a pen or pencil. My mind almost automatically goes into a meditative state :-)

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  13. I agree, Sara... there is something extraordinary about writing by hand.

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    1. Hi Laurie! Writing is pretty amazing when you think about it, and there is just something wonderful about the feel of the pen and seeing the words form :-)

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  14. I am a long hand kind of guy too; old habits, I guess. I just love to see my words first in my handwriting; then the word processing & blue penciling happens on my desk top Apple. Hemingway always wrote first drafts in long hand.

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    1. Hi Glenn! Nice to meet a fellow lover of the delights of pen and paper. Thank you for your visit and comments :-)

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  15. oh it is magic - and how wonderful to have this that holds all dreams and fears - beautiful! K

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  16. I don't take good old fashioned pen to page often enough these days. This makes me want to go back. :)

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Your words are wonderful! Thanks for popping in--I'll be over in a snap!