Purple Ink
I’m nostalgic for pens
like the one that wrote purple
when I kept a note going
to my girlfriend all week
When I wrote cursive in high school
about a boy named Richard
Dear Diary, my brother is a jerk
I’m nostalgic for pencils
that erased mistakes
that were chewed on in math class
and stuck behind my ear
Like a dime in a loafer
a class ring on a chain
or a pink spongy curler
mistakenly left in my hair
I’m nostalgic for lined paper
with my name on the top
for whole pages in notebooks
that haven’t been filled up
In a time when I imagined
I had something to say
More than: Use it or lose it
Quick brown fox
Go jump in a lake
Now purple ink
is like purple haze
A classic riff from the ‘60s
Hair is purple
and tattoos are like the doodles
I drew on book covers
that I made myself
Out of brown paper bags
that also carried lunches
Peanut butter and jelly
almost every day
Now pencils are rare
They don’t fill the landfill
We used them until
they disappeared
_____Colleen Redman / Poets United / Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads
March 20th, 2016 11:04 am
ohh yeah. did you also draw stuff on your book covers the way we did? I had a friend who could draw the most amazing funny faces, and he decorated my English book cover, senior year. I saved that book cover for years. =)
And empty notebooks that just begged for words
I went through my purple ink phase when I was about 10, used a dip pen and one of those teeny bottles of purple ink.
Oy, such memories. Thank you.
March 20th, 2016 12:01 pm
I distinctly remember writing “Sock it to Me” on my book cover. It was just the coolest thing to say then.
March 20th, 2016 12:41 pm
Oh this took me back , remembering when I slept all night in curlers, wrote with a pen instead of a ketboard….when life was simpler.
March 20th, 2016 1:04 pm
Lovely fresh and original write as always Colleen – thou real much with your well crafted observation… Lovely to be back here… With Best Wishes Scott http://www.scotthastie.com
March 20th, 2016 1:10 pm
I love this.
March 20th, 2016 1:13 pm
Such a lovely breath of fresh air your poem 🙂
March 20th, 2016 1:37 pm
did you store your pens and pencils in a see-through “pencil bag” with a zipper on one end and 3 holes in the other for putting it in the front of a 3 ring binder so it was available at a moment’s notice? did you buy “slip on” eraser tips that replaced the eraser end of pencils after the original pencil erasers were used up? one high school teacher required us to have a red/blue colored pencil for “check-ups,” little 10 qt quizzes so we could complete them in blue and swap papers to grade, marking them in red.
your post was fun to read.
I remember making book covers, too. I had a ballpoint pen that offered red, blue, green, and purple ink choices that I loved. that choice of pens remained available for quite a while because I used one as a social work manager when reading/editing casework documentation years later.
March 20th, 2016 2:03 pm
There is so much to love in this poem – the nostalgia for days we all remember and for items so quintessential to our existence which are fast becoming obsolete. Your poem kept these things alive for another day.
March 20th, 2016 2:19 pm
I remember well those see-through pencil bags and the 3 ring notebook binders. When I first discovered pens that wrote in purple I thought I would always have one but then discovered how badly they faded, as opposed to black. I don’t even like blue ink now!
March 20th, 2016 2:33 pm
And with pens and pencils gone we have to learn to talk emoji.. We are doomed. I still jab a pen case I knitted in school, but I rarely use it.
March 20th, 2016 3:10 pm
Love the nostalgia here….we had pennies on our loafers back in the 60s in little town Indiana….and I loved my notebooks too and pencils! I still use notebooks and pencils…..
March 20th, 2016 5:46 pm
Ah,you really tweaked my memories, Colleen. I remember those spongy pink rollers and absolutely HATED them. I did love all those colored pens & self-made book covers! And where did those wonderful brown paper bags for lunches go? Thank you for this one!
March 20th, 2016 5:59 pm
Excellent! You made me say oh ya! I remember going to my girl friends house and being greeted at the door in her pick sponge rollers because her brother wouldn’t answer the door 🙂
You took me on a wonderful walk through time that was erased… but not because it was unpleasant. Oh, that same girl was wearing my ring on a chain.
ZQ
March 20th, 2016 7:08 pm
You have just made me incredibly nostalgic too! Love this poem 🙂
March 21st, 2016 5:01 am
I really loved this. It took me back so many years when although still innocent we thought we were daring, pushing the limits and the whole world was our oyster.
March 21st, 2016 3:58 pm
Colleen this is delightful….jogged my memory in so many directions….I love it!
March 21st, 2016 5:07 pm
I still like to use a purple pen…
March 22nd, 2016 12:40 am
This made me remember and smile.
March 22nd, 2016 11:53 am
A new pencil was the best! A small miracle (although I didn’t know that back then). Only one memory that your poem brought to the surface of my mind. Enjoyed immensely.
Best of luck to your Democrat candidate (your later post). The ‘act locally’ part of the old adage is something we’re pretty much unable to do with our bi-coastal life. I feel sad about that.
March 23rd, 2016 8:27 pm
[…] 6. I’m nostalgic for pencils / that erased mistakes / that were chewed on in math class / and stuck behind my ear / Like a dime in a loafer / a class ring on a chain / or a pink spongy curler / mistakenly left in my hair … Read the rest of the poem Purple Ink HERE. […]
March 23rd, 2016 10:35 pm
Fun to read, Colleen. Reminds me of high school though I don’t have many memories of most of it. Nor do I remember many idiosyncrasies in the nature of yours. I do remember going to the library during study hall time and there reading my latest Zane Grey mag which I kept hidden inside a workbook. I also remember having a crush on sophomore English teacher. I took that class as a senior and she wasn’t very much older than I was.
🙂
March 23rd, 2016 10:36 pm
Better URL
March 24th, 2016 4:22 am
Take all the nice things people have said about this work & hear it in my voice.