Do not trust the eraser

^{for Gabrielle Civil & Madhu H. Kaza}

Do not trust the eraser. Prefer
crossed out, scribbled over monuments
to something once thought correct
. Instead: colors, transparencies
track changes, versions, iterations
. How else might you return
after discards, attempts
and mis takes, to your 
original genius
?

Copyright © 2022 by Rosamond S. King. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on July 1, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.

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“Poetry can reveal connections between the seemingly small moments in our lives and the seemingly big concepts and ideas that shape our lives. Such a connection exists in this poem. When my friend, writer and performance artist Gabrielle Civil, suggested fellow writers Madhu H. Kaza and I try the new erasable pens she’d bought, I was horrified and surprised by my own strong response. I realized that the permanence of ink is part of what draws me to writing in the first place, because it represents the permanence of poetry.”
—Rosamond S. King