for want of a pen

Sometimes I think I became a writer solely because I love holding a nice pen.

so long longhand

Will I ever again return to writing longhand, and the pleasure of seeing the letters unfold slowly into words across the page. Nothing written can be taken back without crossing-out.

fall in

Often when writing longhand the letters stagger into the harsh light of the page.

first script

No neatly printed page can equal the beauty of handwritten lines in a notebook.

sound scape

Longhand: The sound of words being scratched out (in both senses) on paper.

skips a generation

In the era of word processing software, the poet faced with a protracted power outage reverts to longhand as though the machine age, represented by the typewriter, never happened.

(n.b.: on the fifth night without power.)

unhurried hand

It was the kind of poem one felt had been written in pen, in longhand.