Good Writing by Paul Hostovsky

Back when we learned how to hold our pencils, 

I was the best pencil holder in class. Mrs. Morvay 

said so. My pointer with its perfectly peaked knuckle 

pointed downward in an excellent slope, joining 

the tip of my thumb in a perfectly triangular pinch on the leeward

side of my perfectly sharpened pencil, auguring good things to

come. But good form and good writing went the way of

parchment and quills. Jon Winkels, who sat behind me and whose

pencil holding couldn’t hold a candle to mine, is a vice president

now at J.P. Morgan Chase, and Arthur Lafferty, whose pencil

luffed and lurched crookedly, sailed on to become a rich

entertainment attorney at RCA, while I’m still sitting here with

my poor number 2 pencil and good form, writing in perfect

obscurity, waiting to be praised.

---

from Pitching for the Apostates, Kelsay Books, 2023.

Paul Hostovsky's poems and essays appear widely online and in print. He has won a Pushcart Prize, two Best of the Net Awards, and has been featured on Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, and The Writer's Almanac. He makes his living in Boston as a sign language interpreter.