She moves up and down the rows of desks
filled with tiny, crouched figures
hovering over lined paper
and clutching #2 pencils.
Filling the aisle with her middle-age width
and Avon perfume,
I feel the warmth of her body and breath
as she leans over me
and sighs.
We’ve been here before.
I’m just not getting this pencil-holding thing.
I thought I was doing it right.
The letters on my paper look pretty much like everyone’s.
Pretty much.
But every time she stops at my desk,
she firmly cups her hand over mine and squeezes
hard
until she forces my tiny, anxious fingers
to curl around the long, yellow pencil
with the well-worn, pink eraser.
“A firm grasp is the key to proper penmanship, my dear,” she says,
trying to sound patient
about my substandard pencil etiquette.
Not wanting to disappoint her
again
I clench that pencil
as if my very breathing depends upon it,
until my fingers cramp from it,
and the lead of the pencil
presses so hard against the paper
that the letters bulge through the opposite side.
When she asks us to turn our papers over
and sit quietly until everyone finishes,
I close my eyes
and feel each raised letter with my fingertips.
Wondering whether any one else
has to press that hard
work that hard
to squeeze out the letters
and words,
and sentences,
so very anxious to burst forth.
Author: Anne Celano Frohna
I have been writing for as long as I could hold a pencil in hand and would not feel complete without it.
And I actually made a meager living at it (and as an editor) for 25 years.
I worked for newspapers and magazines, in graphic arts and advertising, and wrote several local history books.
But I have also taught English in Japan, been a Nanny/family chef in Italy, worked in and for museums, was an Airbnb Superhost for four years, as well as an Etsy shop owner, where I sold vintage items I found over the years at thrift stores and yard sales.
After moving to Arizona with my family in 2010, I completed a series of different writing projects, including two books of creative non-fiction:
Just West of the Midwest: a comedy (Based on journals I kept during my two years as an English teacher in rural Japan.)
Within Close Range: short stories of an American Childhood (Short stories and poems about growing up as the middle of five children in suburban Chicago.)
But in the past few years, I have found my voice in poetry.
I am a mother of two wonderful girls, Eva (26) and Sophia (24) and wife to one wonderful husband, Kurt.
In 2023, with our girls grown and off on their own, my husband and I packed up our things and moved to the tip of Italy’s heel, to the Salento region, where I continue to work on my poetry, as well as a new fiction project, and indulge in my passion for mosaics - all of which you can view on my Instagram page @ acfrohna.
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Dog-eared Stories by anne celano frohna 