how the pen worked perfetly with your quick body as you'd flourish off a check during a busy noon-hour rush the sun

Fred Wah, "Father/Mother Haibun #4"

Family dynamics were never so succintly written as in this 'haibun', and I find myself responding perhaps strongest to the sheer physicality of writing - the movement of it, the art that is produced, the desire to be in possession of the skill and physicality that comes from writing that Wah expresses through his four dollar fountain pen.

Writing equated with the important qualities of a person: "silver, black, gold nib, the precision I wanted also in things", the treatment of pens as jewellry, as personally important as a talisman, the necessity of having the capability of writing. For Wah's father - and also for Wah, as he watches his father, writing becomes a cathartic and relaxing act - in the midst of a lunch hour rush, Wah's father's ability to "flourish off a check" is tied to the image of the "cafe flashing" - his proficieny ensures the glowing and magical component of the cafe itself.