Chattels Of The Wandering Poet

The Poet's journey follows the oldest story known to man: leaving comfort to seek profound truths in the unknown. Montblanc brings this monomyth to life through craft and design.

- WORDS SUFFIAN HAKIM PHOTOS MONTBLANC

PROLOGUE: The Poet At His Desk

All stories begin and end with order. What we consider ‘story’ is usually the period of disorder between the beginning and the end.

It is the turmoil between periods of peace, the storms that bookend placid waters, the adventure that happens after and before we rest.

It is why the most common story structure is the three-act structure. Act One: Order. Act Two: Disorder. Act Three: A new order.

Our protagonist today is The Poet, a gentleman and scholar who understands that words create realities. The modern poet here doesn't necessarily write poetry—but he lives poetically, always.

He seeks the profound and transcendental; you can hear it in what he says; you can read it in the things he writes.

We begin—and we will end—our story with the Poet at his desk, bedecked with his instruments: trays, writing instrument holders, leather boxes balancing form and function in earth tones.

They are made with Corteccia leather. Corteccia reminds us of the great harmony of nature. It is made with heat, giving the look of tree bark on cowhide. Corteccia is flora and fauna. Plant and animal.

In its artistry, there is also balance, the duality of nature.

The Poet understands that nature gave us creativity and honours it through his choices.

The Poet's desk is his sanctuary, his temple, his workspace. It is where he toils and troubles, but it is also where, in his creativity, he is closest to the divine.

ACT ONE: The Call To Adventure

Every poet encounters a call to write an unassailable truth, something so fundamentally pure about the nature of man and the universe. Answering these calls with the full might of our intelligence and creativity is how we got the great books and stories of human history, such as Plato's