I have to thank the man
who invented the ink pen.
You know, there’s some dispute as to
who really did that.
I’ll bet though, they all came to this
brilliant idea independently
inspired by its brilliantly simple usefulness.

For me, the scrape of my pen across paper,
not skin since I left high school,
is soothing like the washing machine
for some crying babies.
Makes me feel like I’m writing
something worth keeping.

When I need a break from the
hum and whir of electricity and flashing cursors
when time allows me to sacrifice expediency
to connect most viscerally with me,
it’s ink pen to paper to discover, uncover
and invent my next adventures and record them.

©2009 Shari Lynne Smothers

Prompt: Write an invention poem. Day 21 of the 2009 November PAD Chapbook Challenge, from Robert Lee Brewer of Poetic Asides

Spreading black ink
my life blood over the page
I’m thrilled to be her preferred tool
for penning great verse.

In no time at all
I’ll be sent
to ink pen heaven
if she continues at this pace.

And I will go with honor
to be with my retired sisters
knowing I provided the words
to her most laudable rhetoric.

©2009 by Shari Lynne Smothers

Write from a alternative perspective. This is my poem for Day 2 of the Poem a Day Chapbook Challenge.