Shhh... I'm the Pen Whisperer

It's said that confession is good for the soul. I must confess, then, that I'm a bit of a pen aficionado. Or as my wife says, I'm a pen whisperer.

At one time in my life, I worked retail at Sharon Luggage & Gifts. It was a rough job and I found the company to be difficult. While it may not have been the company itself that was difficult, the management was most strict and unforgiving.

You see, the company encouraged employees to learn as much as possible about the products we sold. Needless to say, I spent every spare moment near the pens.

"Phillip," a voice would say behind me. "Stop playing with the pens!"

I could tell you the difference between a ballpoint, roller ball and fountain pen. I could tell you how to a clean a fountain quill, or how to make a gummed up pen write again. I could tell you which pen could write in zero gravity and never melt or freeze anywhere on this earth.

"I mean it," the voice would say more forcefully. "Stop. Playing. With. The. Pens."

I had two favorites. There was a beautiful green Aurora fountain pen that didn't take cartridges. It could only be filled from an inkwell. It was less than $300. The other was my Holy Grail of pens -- an artist series Alexander Dumas Mont Blanc fountain pen! It was only $375 and had a rhodium...

"Mr. Haworth!" the manager nearly shouted, handing me paper towels and a bottle of cleaner. "No more pens! Now clean the pen counter off where you drooled on it!"

Like I said, strict and unforgiving. Go figure!

Here is the first poem I have to share with you. This poem and a comment from my wife inspired this post...

A good pen can write
A great one inspire.
So put pen to paper
And see what will transpire
--Kilgore Trout