The letters
of this book used to
bristle under roman rule,
they used to mumble to their
abutters and sigh at their position, static.
They would say, “Why?
Why the dummy type? Why not
form words, even typographic grunt,
instead of ipsum and dolor and so on and so forth until we become
dizzy in sameness.
Words are not dummies––
words own the world and characters
make them up. No soldier shoots
w/o an order, no hands shake w/o a written vow.
No letter is mute.”
Now typesetter’s rule is overthrown and
ciphers make love with unknown neighbors.
For the first time, softly, (f&) F meets ampersam in obscene friction.
November 5, 1993
© 1995 Daniel X. O'Neil
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