The Right to Bear Italicized Arms?


There is a font called "2nd Amendment" on the site fontpark.net. Aside from the mind-boggling political/constitutional aspect of a font created out of guns (the right to bear italic arms?) there is something very unsettling about translating a text into firepower. I took the poem "Gun Lips" from my new collection The Porcupinity of the Stars and set it in this militant font.

Readers now can look down the barrel of my poetic gun. Could the poem be summarized by totalling the arsenal of its letters? Could we play one poem against the other on the basis of firepower? Did I just write this poem as a deterrent, and never intend to use any of those letters 'for real'?

The first time I posted this poem, along with a picture of a 'mini-gun', I received (and indeed continue to receive) more visits to this blog than for any other posting. I won't ever take this poem on an airplane. I'll keep it away from kids. I'll make sure that, in case this poem goes off ill advisedly, I'll store the meaning separately from the text.

Capitals point the other way.

Be careful with letters.

Comments

Jeff said…
I'll give up my poem when they pry my cold, dead finger from the comma.