---
id: "codex://object/broken-pencil-psalm"
archive_id: "broken-pencil-psalm"
slug: "broken-pencil-psalm"
url: "https://ndcodex.com/objects/broken-pencil-psalm/"
type: "scroll"
title: "broken pencil psalm"
summary: "By this, the thing. Is this a thing? The pencil working. keep it on the road. Passing on the left,. the truck beside me. didn’t see us. down into a ditch,. at 50,. a dumbass. in an old Toyota. My nephew and niece"
date_published: "2026-04-13T15:04:24.966Z"
date_modified: "2026-04-13T15:04:24.966Z"
status: "published"
visibility: "public"
language: "en-US"
axes:
  scale: "meso"
  depth: "structural"
  focus: "system"
  function: "comparative"
themes:
  - "pressure"
  - "survival"
  - "witness"
  - "continuity"
constellations: []
tags:
  - "pressure"
  - "survival"
  - "witness"
  - "continuity"
keywords:
  - "Scroll"
  - "pressure"
  - "survival"
  - "witness"
  - "continuity"
author:
  id: "nathan-davis"
  name: "Nathan Davis"
  designation: "Archive Operator"
  role: "Archive Operator"
  handle: "@nathandavis"
  avatar: "/media/people/nathan-davis.jpg"
  bio: "Designer, builder, and curator of the Codex Archive."
contributors:
  - id: "nathan-davis"
    name: "Nathan Davis"
    designation: "Archive Operator"
    role: "Archive Operator"
    handle: "@nathandavis"
    avatar: "/media/people/nathan-davis.jpg"
    bio: "Designer, builder, and curator of the Codex Archive."
relations:
  - kind: "related"
    target: "codex://object/keep-it-on-the-road"
    slug: "keep-it-on-the-road"
    url: "https://ndcodex.com/objects/keep-it-on-the-road/"
  - kind: "related"
    target: "codex://object/stay-on-target"
    slug: "stay-on-target"
    url: "https://ndcodex.com/objects/stay-on-target/"
  - kind: "related"
    target: "codex://object/i-could-have-passed"
    slug: "i-could-have-passed"
    url: "https://ndcodex.com/objects/i-could-have-passed/"
media:
  - kind: "image"
    src: "/media/pigeon/scroll/broken-pencil-psalm-01.jpeg"
    role: "hero"
    alt: "IMG 5128"
    capture: "[object Object]"
  - kind: "image"
    src: "/media/pigeon/scroll/broken-pencil-psalm-02.jpeg"
    role: "gallery"
    alt: "IMG 5138"
    capture: "[object Object]"
---
By this, the thing.
Is this a thing?

The pencil working—
keep it on the road.

Passing on the left,
the truck beside me
didn’t see us—

down into a ditch,
at 50,

a dumbass
in an old Toyota.

My nephew and niece—
scarred for life.

Riding alongside—
not the last time.

What a goddamned
scary ass ride.

I was 16
when we nearly wrecked—

half a century younger now,

we toast
what we survived.

I’ll see the family
in June—

toasting our survival
yet again.

LIBBY, MONTANA
1993


✦ APRIL 13, 2026 — 10:02 PM ✦

The economy—

a pencil,
once broken,
set right enough
to write.

Rotring 600,
.5 mm—

beak bent—

machined lead
through a
1.3 mm bend—

2B—

O frondens virga
from a scratched
iPhone 16—

the feat—

single bound,
and leap—

over buildings,

bombs
on our enemies.

This is that—

[undetermined]
sound.

—

How honest can you be with yourself?

—

The virus excusing—

impediments,
indiscriminate—

we use the model
to contain it.

What a wild joke—
to demonize the help.