The Call of Cursive

"Machines (referring to a typewriter) have no grace.  It cannot make a flourish, vary the thickness of a line, or tantalize the reader with a lapse into an in decipherable but lovely style.  A good penman can make rivers that race to the sea, rivers as wild and dizzy as a flume in the Alps, as choppy as the Isarco, as wide and smooth as the Tiber at Ostia, or as deep as the Po where it rolls into the Adriatic."  - from A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin.

During my life, this functional art form has helped my writing bloom. Each artful loop, whirl, tie and tail I learned from my father. He kept patient with a perfectionist's eye. I observed the writing of teachers and friends to adapt my style.  It continues to blossom.

For writers, cursive writing inspires both a meditative state and a way to access both sides of the brain for productive results.  The hand moves to stimulate the brain's logical side. Letters form words in artful flow from the right side's intuitive cells. Integration of both sides occurs as a result.

Writers need to feel the elegance of writing with a fountain pen and see its splash of color.

Since childhood, I've considered fountain pens my ponies. My mind has ridden bareback. Without use of a bridle or saddle, a variety of pens behave with finger pressure. Turquoise, emerald, magenta and sunshine flow from my thoroughbreds, Morgans, quarters and an Arabian or trail pony. The mustangs and stallions often buck the surface for new ideas. Lippizan stallions dance their air ballet.

These fountain pony pens combine with textured paper to push a progression of ideas. Ink on both rough and slick surfaces increases in speed for creativity capture. It slows to corral emotions and thoughts to ponder. Movement to cross a T or dot an i stays fluid without breaking the spell of rhythm and progress.

Cursive writing adds a magical quality to the writing process.

I feel concern about the future of cursive writing.

Will children know what these magnificent creatures represent in a few years?  

Last year when I took my California Driver's Test to renew my license, the clerk could not read my check written in cursive. She had to ask a manager.

I continue to exercise my fountain pen ponies. Green stains on the first joint of my right middle finger show my cursive writing honor. 

People will ask what the green means. Maybe they will find a way to read my scribbling fun.

Let the call of cursive find you. Write a letter. Prepare drafts in longhand before the computer. 

Keep the art going.