I used to write on paper because it was heroic.

Poetry, lyrics, even passages for novels.

I had three or four journals that I lugged around like trophies.

Better yet, artifacts from a waning era that few still appreciated.

I know that I appreciated it when I witnessed others writing on paper.

It was a communal demonstration of the sacred.

I couldn’t stand when aspiring novelists assended upon the coffee shops with their laptops.

Or aspiring musicians walked into a studio’s vocal booth with crisp, clean copies of their lyrics.

It was as if they were somehow cheating.

There is something soothing in knowing you have a backspace key.

And somthing pacifying about the nurturing embrace of a spell check program.

I used to despise these things.

Writing on paper showed bravery.

In fact, my years spent writing on paper made me a better writer.

Its harder to write on paper. 

It takes more committment.

A blank page is a sobering mirror looking to reflect from the most inner dwellings of your thoughts.

A blank word document on a computer is an excuse to surf the internet.

Sadly, over the last several years I have converted to writing almost exclusively on computers.

I don’t know how this happened.

Perhaps I was slowly seduced by the sweet sedative of convenience.

Perhaps I have succumb to an element of fear in my writing.

Regardless, I hope the pattern is not irreversible.

I still revere the challenge of paper, even after I have lost sight of it.

This makes me wonder about the generation coming behind mine.

It occurrs to me that a great many of them may have never learned to write on paper.

The thought of a paperless generation of writers is one that I find dreary and tragic.

I hope that at least a few in the next generation have a place in their methods for that which is sacred.

This poem is being written on paper.

Tomorrow I hope to embark on another blank sheet of loose leaf.

And the day after that, perhaps I will dust off an antique typewriter.

Then get on the computer and Google where I can purchase some typewriter ribbon. 

Written July 2009 (On Paper) in Edinburg, Texas