Five years later: Danitrio Dragon and Phoenix.

Not bad for a five-year old pen that’s seen me through several beaches, countries, relationships.

Danitrio Dragon and Phoenix
Danitrio Dragon and Phoenix

Scuffed, oxidized, patinated, beautiful.

Phoenix, closeup
Phoenix, closeup

I have always liked dragons. Phoenixes come close.

A bit worse for wear but still fierce
A bit worse for wear but still fierce

I think it’s only when you’re on the other side of young that you can say, yes, things do look better with age. I love new and shiny, don’t get me wrong. But there is room, more than enough, for the well-loved.

Bloodied but unbowed
Bloodied but unbowed

We grow more conscious of history as we have less time to make ours. Every time I make something with my hands, it is a little push against the tyranny of time.

Lines, lines, lines
Lines, lines, lines

The ink is most likely R&K Scabiosa.

I'm surprised the nib is still alive after everything I've put it through
I'm surprised the nib is still alive after everything I've put it through

I am listening to Steely Dan as I write this. I’ve been listening to them since I was in college, and even then, they weren’t new and shiny. “Daddy don’t live in that New York City no more, he can’t get tight every night, passed out on the barroom floor. Daddy can’t get no fine cigar, but we know you’re smoking wherever you are.”