#pen monkey

[the-merbeast]

#Inktober Day 9: The Chinese Ink Monkey

The ink monkey is a tiny Chinese cryptid whose existence has never been fully confirmed, though there was a brief report in 1996 that it had been found. Supposedly they were trained by scholars to grind ink, turn pages, and fetch brushes. They also had an affinity for eating ink, as you see here.

[genderinflux-blog]

TBT: untitled

April 2012:

I wasn’t there and then I was, as though suddenly something had come unplugged, the notion that the ocean beat against tireless shores long before and forevermore, the lengthy concealing of a feeling that my being need not be endured, only the winding through a finding of a vast internal and eternal unbending joy for the hopelessly hopeless galore, fever breaking now unmistaking the great nothingness for nothing at all anymore, for in nothing lies everything, everything is nothing and I am not not there, available for mind control, nevermore.

[genderinflux-blog]

Can we PLEASE make the #Pen monkey tag a thing!

terribleminds

[genderinflux-blog]

And I ran through the fog like if I went fast enough it wouldn't swallow me whole but it just followed me down the street smothering every fire I lit unrequited and bitter like Sunday coffee with no cream and sugar

[genderinflux-blog]

Poetry Wrote Me

I don't write poetry words just fall out of my head in a rhythm that makes me want to dance or cry or sing or scream and that's what I do I live I'm just the messenger as surprised as you when life and death are falling from my fingertips and you applaud me as if I've earned that somehow but I'm telling you I don't write poetry It wrote me

[genderinflux-blog]

We're just birds trying to fly with broken wings. It's a little like trying to see the air or taste the color blue. It's kind of tragic don't you think?

[pen-monkey]

Superstitious Writing

Just like gamblers, musicians and athletes when a Pen Monkey gets on a lucky streak superstition takes hold. This Pen Monkey believes that superstitions help me to keep the stream of consciousness flowing from brain to pen to paper. My superstitions resemble Pavlov's bell. When I'm on a roll as I have been this week a number of superstitions kick in. The first is that I stick to longhand for the duration of the streak. Interrupting the flow of words to type up pages causes unnecessary distraction. The second superstition to take hold is that I have to use the same legal pad until I hit the cardboard backing. The fun side effect of this is that I end up with two or three empty cardboard backs per script which makes for a nice visual when describing to people just how much goes into a script. The third superstition involves the pen, much like the pad I stick to a single pen until it runs out of ink and then add them to the collection of cardboard backs. I also tear off each page as it's finished and staple the day's pages together separate from one another. The stapled sheafs of paper are slowly bundled into a larger manuscript. All of these things help to snap me into the right frame of mind to fill the blank page. There have been other superstitions that have had a lesser hold on me. For instance whenever I'm starting a new project my wife sneaks a note at the top of the first page wishing me luck. My first produced script was written with a monster finger puppet affixed to my pen by my 11 year old. It raised a lot of questions when I arrived in Germany for the rewrites but it stayed on the pen and now sits on my desk in a place of honor. As I near my Tuesday deadline for my latest project my two year old daughter has added a new one to the list. As she left for daycare she came in and gave me a kiss goodbye and then asked to kiss my pen for "luck Daddy". It feels lucky already. Remember Pen Monkeys never say die! Do you have any superstitions?