Mechanical Pencil Day

Today 05/07 is mechanical pencil day.  I expect you celebrated in your own way.  I was reminded of a poem I wrote.  Enjoy.

Ode to OHTO

You lie where I laid you down.  Waiting.
Form and function in oriental elegance
With all your intricate workings hidden
In a sleek slim silver barrel.
A sturdy pocket clip prevents you rolling.
    It will grip any pocket tight
    And tear and stab within.

Your internal store of fragile leads.  Waiting.
One funnelled past open brass clutches,
Directed down tapered engineering
Emerging through a last delicate tube
To light and a gentle touch on paper.
    With a firm press, history is recorded;
    Posterity enriched by 0.5 mm.

Your knurled aluminium grip.  Waiting.
To be settled amongst fingers and thumb
Whose minute movements shifts mind to paper
In deliberate consistent flowing lines;
Something there now which wasn’t there before.
    Creation.  Has it been worth it?
    Or should the eraser be revealed?

You twirl between fingers and thumb.  Waiting.
Poised at a meeting to record significance
Or a future action or a doodle in boredom
As attention drifts to other, secret things
Exposed by gliding graphite on the side.
    Memory made for future reference.
    Recollection outsourced; an age thing.

You hover over a famous blank page.  Waiting.
Eager for something worthy of a mark.
You’re not even top of the range
No bullet proof build.  No killer features.
Not available in retail outlets
    A secret purchase from the net
    For geeks and aficionados only.


I wait with you.  Poised and patient together.
Deadline motivates and our work is completed
I move to prodding keys and anonymous fonts
And spelling corrections and grammatical suggestions
DEL leaving no trace of those first thoughts.
    Clean copy replaces a scribbled original
    Of our marks. Me and my OHTO Promecha.