Font

[TranquillityBase]

Font

I always set
my virtual typewriter
to Bodoni Old Style
14 pt.
It’s a blessing
to choose how my words
will appear
at the moment they materialize
on the planet 
of a backlit page.
I imagine it’s
how ants must feel
catching the scent
of the trail
hurrying along
seeking out a burden
and then it’s back home
to the teeming nest
a nest of words
for my queen
who I’ve never seen
face to face.
Who is silent
deep in her tomb
of endless creation.

[Quixilated]

Font

I always set
my virtual typewriter
to Bodoni Old Style
14 pt.
It’s a blessing
to choose how my words
will appear
at the moment they materialize
on the planet 
of a backlit page.
I imagine it’s
how ants must feel
catching the scent
of the trail
hurrying along
seeking out a burden
and then it’s back home
to the teeming nest
a nest of words
for my queen
who I’ve never seen
face to face.
Who is silent
deep in her tomb
of endless creation.

I love this, it’s so true! Font does matter.  I took a walk over to google docs to see what Bodoni Old style looks like and I don’t have that option in my fonts box.  So I can only imagine.  But I do have favorite fonts and fonts that make me feel like I could write forever and fonts that stop me in my tracks.  I once read something that said the best font for creative writing was comic sans. I don’t remember where I read it, I only remember that the person who said it was angry because they didn’t like comic sans as a font, but they tried writing in it and it did help improve their writing speed or creativity or something.  Anyway, all that to say, yes. This. 

I also enjoyed the image of little word-ants bringing the words one by one to the word hill where a mysterious queen is knitting them into ideas and poems and etc.  

Also, I love “the planet of the backlit page.”  Yes.  I love that, the blank page is a whole world waiting to happen. A planet unto itself.  

A very enjoyable read.

—Quix

[TranquillityBase]

I love this, it’s so true! Font does matter.  I took a walk over to google docs to see what Bodoni Old style looks like and I don’t have that option in my fonts box.  So I can only imagine.  But I do have favorite fonts and fonts that make me feel like I could write forever and fonts that stop me in my tracks.  I once read something that said the best font for creative writing was comic sans. I don’t remember where I read it, I only remember that the person who said it was angry because they didn’t like comic sans as a font, but they tried writing in it and it did help improve their writing speed or creativity or something.  Anyway, all that to say, yes. This. 

I also enjoyed the image of little word-ants bringing the words one by one to the word hill where a mysterious queen is knitting them into ideas and poems and etc.  

Also, I love “the planet of the backlit page.”  Yes.  I love that, the blank page is a whole world waiting to happen. A planet unto itself.  

A very enjoyable read.

—Quix

Quix,

Thank you for your delightful response.

My obsession with fonts began, as everything does for me, with reading.  In particular, it was a copy of Samuel Beckett's Watt printed in a deliciously unusual font (I don't know that it's Bodoni, but Bodoni is the closest I've found to that font in what's available in my word processor) that I bought decades ago.

In my old age it's become a mania.  I am currently buying (and reading) editions of Shakespeare's plays published by Cambridge starting, I think, in the 1920s.  It's the "Dover Wilson Shakespeare" and I'm reading them not because of the editors, but because of the font that they used.  Fortunately they reprinted the whole series in 2008, so I'm able to get used paperback copies online.

As to ants, I will only say that I've long believed I would have made a better ant than human being.  I suspect I'm also a better bibliophile than poet.

Anyway, thanks for the read and the comments.  Made me glad I wrote the poem.

TqB

[brynmawr1]

Font

I always set
my virtual typewriter
to Bodoni Old Style
14 pt.
It’s a blessing
to choose how my words
will appear
at the moment they materialize
on the planet 
of a backlit page.
I imagine it’s
how ants must feel
catching the scent
of the trail
hurrying along
seeking out a burden
and then it’s back home
to the teeming nest
a nest of words
for my queen
who I’ve never seen     Whom?  not sure myself
face to face.
Who is silent
deep in her tomb
of endless creation.

Endless creation indeed!  I think my ants are stocking up for winter at the moment.  I am content to read yours until my queen shows me some mercy.  I did have fun looking up font styles and learning about the history behind them.  I had no idea how complex it all is and what a serious business designing them was when they had to set the type for each printing.  What a job!
Take care,
steve