I pick up the humble graphite pencil to draw
The outline of my artwork, so that I can erase the flaws
In my drawing- here I must confess that I have been uncharacteristically bold
To draw directly with indelible pens, truth be told
That audacious experiment I now consider failed
That kind of cliff in drawing I have not scaled
The last time I had used a pencil was two decades ago
To fill in circles on an answer-sheet- I do not know
If I had any pencils at home until my son started school
I only wrote (and drew) with pens and markers as a rule
*
Using a pencil is different from holding a pen
My strokes are lighter, more deliberate when
I use a sharpened pencil versus one with a dull tip
My line thickness varies depending on the strength of my grip
And in the midst of drawing, I am suddenly transported back
To my simple childhood, when tools like computers we lacked
When pencils were to elementary school confined
And graduating to writing with a pen a rite of passage defined
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Next time I sit down to read a journal article, I bring a pencil with me
And start scribbling notes in the margins furiously
In a throwback to old days- this is a more effective way to retain what I read
I did not realize that a pencil was what my aging memory did need..
*
My next project is to try writing with a pencil in a notebook
Somehow this has been harder than it looks
I am so used to typing words on a device
That I am afraid my penmanship would not suffice
To get my thoughts on paper in an aesthetically pleasing way
I have to start somewhere, let me just start today…
Passion...unbridled 