Steampunk Penmanship

Letters flow from nibs
With sleek lines and sharp angles
Riveted and welded together
In a haphazard harmony of spare parts
Constructing the machinery of meaning

She keeps a battery of pens
Each with its own line
Its own texture
Its own gravity

Illustrating words
So her poems appear
To carry the weight
Of her thoughts

Picture It and Write! is a weekly writing challenge, posted every Sunday by Eliabeth or Ermisenda, co-authors of Ermiliablog. The challenge is to write a piece of fiction or a poem in response to the photo prompt supplied by the hosts.

This was last week’s photo, so I’m a little late. But the image, it grabbed me. And I knew what I wanted to write. It’s something of an ode to a friend of mine, also a lover of steampunk, though she’s an illustrator rather than a poet.