REFLECTIONS ON PENCIL AND PAPER
Betty Luceigh
March 27, 2016

The pencil moves as it touches paper–
or is it the paper that moves when it touches pencil?
Is one intentional as the other waits,
or are both driven by a greater intention
to move simultaneously as they connect?

If I were holding the pencil motionless
and you were pushing the paper past it,
would you be the creator of the marks made?
Or does my simple participation with the pencil
still define me as co-creator?

If I hold the pencil and you hold the paper
does anyone hold each of us?
Am I, like the pencil, being moved by another,
and you, like the paper, moved as well?
Who then would be first to engage the motion
to record our intimate mark?

We humans have an agreement left unchallenged
that because I hold the pencil, I move it,
and because I move it, I have a thought to record.
But perhaps the thought was not a random sequence
of neurons firing within me to push the pencil,
but one sent by Creativity
holding me holding the pencil,
holding you holding the paper,
connecting all of us
to offer its expression.

And is it so in all matters of existence?