by Tricia Knoll
after Elon Musk’s posting on Xwitter the video of Milton Friedman’s use of a pencil to explain world trade.
Erasing seems obsolete. We delete,
Seldom switch away rubbery debris.
(Some poets cross-hatch
the words they want to keep
but know should go,
gimmick-choice.)
To mistakes with no reminders.
Paper without blemishes.
School bus yellow
and shades of graphite
smog on a very hard day
but the pencil has come of age—
icon of interdependence,
cedar and rubber, metal tourniquet
around tariffs in supply chains
that bind rebounding erasures
of migrants, protestors, equity,
inclusion, earned retirement security,
health care and the welfare
of children.
Seldom switch away rubbery debris.
(Some poets cross-hatch
the words they want to keep
but know should go,
gimmick-choice.)
To mistakes with no reminders.
Paper without blemishes.
School bus yellow
and shades of graphite
smog on a very hard day
but the pencil has come of age—
icon of interdependence,
cedar and rubber, metal tourniquet
around tariffs in supply chains
that bind rebounding erasures
of migrants, protestors, equity,
inclusion, earned retirement security,
health care and the welfare
of children.
The pencil writes Chinese
as well as English.
Tricia Knoll grimaces at the Trumpian erasures of truth, of people, of traditions, and promises. She writes dozens of postcards to elected officials using pens so as not to be completely erased.
