A sharpened pencil
smells like wood
Graphite sprinkles
a feathery wave
Behind careful penmanship
a “C”
“R” or an “A”
leave their mark on the page
Even pressure—
energy generated from the whole arm—
makes a wider and wider arc until
it is drawing
A face
A head
An expression in grey
hatch marks and smudges
pulled from the sole of the hand
Malleable eraser—
another distraction—
forgets