She was always page greedy
Every cm taken up by words

“If the limit is two pages
I’ll pack them full of thought

I’ll shrink the sizes
squeeze the corners
‘till the page
can hold no more.

1cm margins. Why not?
And fonts size 10. Still readable
I’ll donate extra spacings, for headings.
I’ll even dare some list, some table.”

And thus it came to be:
Every essay, a feat of grabbing
of using, of taking all blank space available
while pretending it didn’t happen.

*

Now we live off the page
and she has no chance to push margins.
We are bound to pre-determined spaces
that shift from screen to screen.

But blank corners are equally rare:
everyone has given in to greed.
Empty space is silence
And we are all shouting me, me, me.

“1cm margins. On top, on right on bottom.
I’ll break this page. I’ll own this space.
I’ll blog, I’ll tweet, I’ll tell more.
Please look. Please like. Please share.”

So she goes on and on
Eating the virtual page
Torturing pixels, deforming formats
Infesting your world with words.

For blanks, there is no room
For silence, there is no margin.

*

(For reading, there is no time).