I Still Use Pencil and Paper

(January 20, 2003)

I still use pencil and paper
          (any paper—
                    legal pads, printer paper, napkins)
          to write.

The feel of the pencil, or pen, in my hand
          (get your mind
                    out of the gutter);
          forming each rounded O, each sharpened I;
          spelling, misspelling every word;
          drawing each sentence, paragraph, story.

Scratching, erasing, rewriting
          on college rule,
          between the lines,
          along the margins.

Sometimes cursive, occasionally block,
          often illegible;
          to be typed and spell-checked and printed
          at a later date, but

I still use pencil and paper to write.