Ode to a Pen

I was in T.A.G. when I was in elementary & high school (Talented and Gifted - or so they said) and occasionally, we'd go on these educational field trips with other TAGers from the county. One trip was to listen to some guy who was instrumental in bringing a primary care center to the county (in retrospect, I probably should have paid attention to him instead of writing poetry about writing instruments.) Give me a break, though, I think I was only about 13 years old (circa 1992) when this was written. Maybe not even that.

My friend Rebecca and I were trying to pay attention, but were bored to tears (as it turns out, "tweens", even smart ones, don't care so much about bureaucracy (I first typed "bureaucrazy" - ha) and construction.) Our gaze kept landing on another guy, who was positively doing acrobatics with his ink pen (I guess he was taking notes, for whatever reason.) He was twirling and flipping in a way that I'd never seen before and have never seen again. (Okay, maybe that was a little dramatic.)

So in true junior-high-girl fashion, Rebecca and I started writing notes to each other, and turned it into an ode to Steven and His Acrobatic Pen. My contributions are in bold (because it's my blog, yo) and hers are plain text. Behold:

This bites
The big pen
That twirls and flips
From his fingertips
It's caught our eye
Wonder if it was a good buy?
I don't know, but it's really fly.
He's a smart guy! Oh my, oh my.
Ooh, watch it spin
The way he works it must be a sin.
Wonder where it's been?
Maybe dipped in gin.
Goodness, watch that silver shine
How I wish it was mine, all mine
I'll bet he was a real good time
With that pen, some Vaseline and twine
Before now, I thought we could show this to him
But I'm sure he'd think we were really dim.
But it's okay, it'll be all right
I think I'll buy a pen like that tonight
And learn to flip and twirl and spin
Or maybe it's a talent for only men!
Maybe he could teach me
Maybe I could try
Maybe my twirling pen
Would catch someone's eye
You might spark some poetry
Oh gee ... would you teach me?
I think I'll save my money
To get a pen to impress the honeys
Do you mean the ladies?
Surely it's not true - I wish I wasn't beside of you!
Now my friend, don't be concerned,
It's the stare of only guys I wish to earn
We're drifting from the subject, Mr. Flip-and-Spin
Now he's got a ball to roll - made of gum wrapper tin!
Watch him poke it
Watch it slide
Where's that pen?
Did he make it hide?
I don't know, don't ask me
Where oh where could that pen be?
Look, it's back! Oh joy, oh joy
Is it a writing utensil, or just a toy?
Maybe he uses it to pick his nose,
Or does he twirl it between his toes?
That should be a new Star Search event
Twirling pens and rolling gum balls made of mint!

I think I'm a lyrical gangster.

EDIT - 7/13/07 - Thanks to Harvey, I now have a video to illustrate what I'm talking about. I'm not sure if my "pen twirler" is one of those on YouTube, but it's similar to what I remember him doing! He was way ahead of his time, I guess.