"OH! FOR A PEN OF IRON!"

"Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! Oh, that with an iron pen and lead they were graven in the rock forever!" (Book of Job 19:23-24)

The 2009 Pen of Iron is out. Hanover High's literary magazine carries poems, stories, essays, drawings and photographs by 13 students and two teachers. It's available in the atrium Fridays during activity period, and in Room 214. The cost is $5.00.

Cover photo by Nick Sinnott-Armstrong.

POEMS FROM "PEN OF IRON"

by Clara Lipfert, class of 2012

lift

fingers press keys music flutters
wrong notes like broken china right notes broken chords
docile
familiar then
difficult
foreign right
hand
plays alone simple melody stumbling like cold sweet plums
i lift my left hand

i am
swimming music stream against
the current low notes rocks resist
the current

my breath is the press of
the pedal limber
legs limbs white keys fingers half notes click
chest heaves heart pounds
simple melody

i lift my left hand

= = = = = = = = = =

In the Dining Hall Before Dinner
by Anna Schults, class of 2009

This is the best way
to listen to classical music,

In this room with
a few people chatting,
the clink of setting tables,
and the late afternoon light
coming in the windows just so
across the old piano.

Not in a stuffy concert hall
sitting stiff next to strangers
sweating in uncomfortable suits,
so far from the musicians,
minuscule up on stage.

No, this is the way to listen,
leaning against the wall
looking out across the mountains
feeling the vibrations through the hand
I’ve placed so carelessly
on the scarred top
of the piano.