The author's exposition
on choice of font
filled a paragraph
of f's and l's and ampersands
their classic lines and peaks
belonging to lucinda sans
this one, said he,
scribed with love
marries gothic curves of old
to modern parametric curves
and should be clearly visible

So I, with pen and sword in hand,
the battle-hardened scrivener,
set out to conquer foreign eyes
with fonts so pure, their sloping arcs
like illustrated babybreath
could make a killer turn his head
to hide the tear it generated
and what about the asterisk?
with precious few occurances
its utility can't be denied
though it looks the same in every font–
italicized or underlined.

It met my calligraphic hand
its petals bloomed beneath
but after raven ink had dried
it stared back disenchantedly
I acquiesced to my defeat
released my writing implements
then sat for hours longingly
reading back that final sentence:

The beauty of ambiguity,
*the asterisk and the ellipses…