My hand and pen have fallen out.
The flow of thought from brain to paper
no longer travels
with hand’s consent.
I’ve lost my grip:
something has nobbled my fingers
and the nib
now plays diminuendo
feeling its way across the page.
How loose, how easy the keyboard:
a mere touch will elicit
surrender
and words come –
with promiscuous pleasure.
But there was something, surely romantic
in the kiss of a pencil on parchment,
the cushion of my palm caressing its face,
my pride in forming elegant letters;
such confident consonants, the swirl of my vowels.
The keyboard proffers
plastic wafers
like after-dinner mints,
a postprandial game of Scrabble
perhaps?
ELLIE REES gained a Phd in Creative Writing from Swansea University this year. In an earlier incarnation she was a teacher of bright young things from all over the world. Now she is teaching herself to be a poet. One of four finalists in Cinnamon’s recent Debut Poetry Collection competition.
The Cabinet of Heed 