“I used to draft poems long-hand with a fountain pen. Now I draft poems on my Mac Powerbook. For revising, I print them out and write all over them with liquid ink roller ball pen, usually a Waterman Carene pen. Then I return to the computer and enter the changes, sometime making more changes as I enter them. These cycle can repeat many times.”

C. Dale Young
www.cdaleyoung.com

“I have always been quite fussy about the tools I use for writing poems. I think it comes from painter-envy. I have a fountain pen that I write with for no other purpose (a Waterman) and a notebook of unlined paper. I think I associate ruled paper with, well, rules and school. And writing poems, for me, has to do with breaking free of those constraints. The notebook has to be aesthetically pleasing (preferably a solid color cover) but not too pretty or expensive, so I won’t worry about messing it up. The paper has to be of a particular size (not too large) and quality. There have been times when I’ve searched high and low for the right notebook instead of le mot juste

Sharon Dolin