Typewriter Rodeo: A Well-Chewed Pen

Each week, the Standard reaches out to Austin’s Typewriter Rodeo for a custom poem on Texas topics.

By David FruchterJuly 13, 2018 10:07 am,

If you’re someone with an oral fixation, you’ll relate to the panic felt when someone asks to borrow a writing utensil. That was the inspiration for this Typewriter Rodeo poem.

A Well-Chewed Pen

it’s so pleasant

when someone comes over for a visit

you sit and chat, catch up

maybe have a cup of tea

and everything is swell

unless — and until — that terrible question:

“can i borrow a pen?”

oh, why, of course you can

let me just grab one

no reason i should feel this pulse

of anxiety

in my chest

as i reach in the cup, and pull out…

an extremely

well-chewed

writing implement

(because they all are, in here)

and it’s like a loose thread,

and i just know

they’ll pull it

and the frazzled, damaged nature

of all my pens

will provoke further

observation

and they’ll begin to see

that in every corner

in every crevice of my house

something is terribly

terribly

wrong

 

Produced by Laura Rice