The words in type specimens are chosen based on their letters, of course, to showcase the characters and characteristics of the featured typeface. Stripping away the typefaces from these specimens, we’re left with a strange readymade poetry—word husks that say something of their own. Here are a few nice ones.

Efficient use of gardens
32 Plant Regiment
HISTORICAL INDUSTRY NORMS
Dinner’s ready!
GREAT BEAST
Leviathan of Night
THE OVERLAND ROUTE
Armour yellow & harbor mist gray
Hitch a boxcar
How am I supposed to ride that way?

23 seconds of déja vu
How would anyone know that?
Slick Quiz Man

DANCE RHUMBA
TOGETHER
Loving you in color

HIERONYMUS BOSCH GENE
Found after analyzing a gifted kindergartener
NURSE
Genius guaranteed
If discovered during the early developmental stages
67 INDICATORS
Naked impish dice gambling
Ice Skaters
FLEMISH
Bemused Art Historians
EARTHLY DELIGHTFUL PERSON

OVER THE OCEAN
Are you my wife?
Memory Fog

EXTRA RAZZLE
THE FROZEN END
PARTY ZONE

INVESTIGATION
Private investigators prowling the back streets for clues & details
Court rules evidence inadmissible
VERDICT
An endless series of appeals and protests plagues the court
Sentence is delivered
25 TO 30 YEARS WORKING IN A SECOND-RATE VIDEO STORE
Plan for escape is formulated
Distracted
GUARD TEMPTED BY FREE RENTAL
I LOCKED HIM IN THE CLOSET WITH A DOZEN MUSICALS
NEW FUGITIVE
Roaming around the countryside with a bicycle and a stinky toothbrush
TRANSCONTINENTAL TRAVEL
Undercover Work

Don’t pay any attention to what they write about you.
Just measure it in inches.

Help! Stop! Where am I?
We’ve got a new see-saw.
Oh look!
Squish crunch gollop

Amor Beautiful Clear
Divine Election Fantasy Gloria Heroe
Innocence Jupiter Nice Original Passion Queso Roses
Sweet Tragedy
Unique Victory Waltz Xoxo Zoe
Close your eyes and smell the progress.
GIVE UP YOUR SOUL. GIVE UP YOUR DREAMS. GIVE UP YOUR FEELINGS.
MODEST GOWNS
RELISH FINE COOKING
Epicures Consulted

7 DANCER EXODUS
HEADING FOR ALASKA
SNOW TOES
UNDRESSED AND FROSTBITTEN
GIRLS SNEEZE Sniffle $2.00

BRIDE Minion.
BIRD Lease
BATH Bristol
MID main
MAN ram
Slow Downtown
City Council of Alhambra
Blend Red Wine
Chargé d’affaires for the Haitian Embassy
The Duke of Wellington

Baserunner
A Lifetime Record Holder
once beachside
Stay gold
Industrial
Another Great Awakening
SYSTEMIC
1874 TODAY TRANSPOSED
Gilding
Meritricious Games

Amnesia
3 alternating sequences
Chronological
EVENTS HINTING TO THE TRUE STORY
Notes Remind
memories of 1986

AMAZON TRIP
Tour guide was thoughtful enough to relieve us of our pesky valuables
FRIENDS
We got along famously—we keep in touch to this day
Back Home At Last
AFTER MY LONG & DANGEROUS JOURNEY, I NEEDED A SNACK
Yet I was downright destitute
Zero Dollars

LOS ANGELES • SAN FRANCISCO • NORTHRIDGE
Aftershock
IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT
magnitude
On the Richter Scale
The Big One
Epicenter Hypocenter SEISMOGRAPH

Amazingly fine whiskey
HAUNTED BY THE MAD WIZARD’S CURSE
JACKNIFED
Clever cats in Switzerland, Foxy & Quick
HIT BY A FANCY SPORTS JOB
Red Dragons
Astronaut B. Zack breezily jangled $613.25 USD in space
They forecasted

exclusive
On-the-record
Hot off the presses
If your mother says she loves you, check it out
Extra! Extra!
’sources say…’
SCOOPED!
International Edition
circulation

Marat
A false humanity has held your arms
Risky Guillotines
The Friend Of The People
Catacomb Skin
Light hitting soap bubbles
À moi, ma chère amie!

MOLECULAR STRUCTURE
BITS OF STUFF SO SMALL YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE IT
Carbon ‘n’ Hydrogen Flavored Soda
REARRANGEMENT OF ATOMIC ELEMENTS MAKES SILK PURSE OUT OF SOW’S EAR
WHICH LEAVES THE SOW MORE THAN A LITTLE BIT CONFUSED
BUT SOON LEARNS TO ENJOY FAME, FORTUNE, AND ENDORSEMENT CONTRACTS
Late-Night Talk Shows
Interrupted for press conference
Gold, platinum & semi-precious stones are discovered in local landfills
PROSPECTOR
Residents from local communities stake claims
Neighbors clash over pile of trash
National Guard tries to restore order
COMPETING FACTIONS
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA COVERAGE

BIG MEN
DROPKICK
CHOKESLAM
{POWERBOMB}
Violent & Hilarious
“Sports Entertainment”

go on…
squeeze
ME!

rhythms entice of colored light
THE SLAPPER IN 3/4 COUNT
strum constant
Vibrates Tin
Bebop Rag

swift feet and taunting tactics
floats like a butterfly
swift jab, striking uppercut
stings like a bee
READY TO RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE
Kinshasa

Lifestream
Tone, Color & Shape
It’s about physical attraction
Simplicity
2008 Fitness Schedule

Banana Slug
lemon head eating lead
FINDS MY ADAM’S APPLE FAR TOO TASTY
Keep Your Eyes Peeled You Big Old Apple Nose!
Some do not eat grains, believing it unnatural to do so, and some feel
that it is improper for humans to eat seeds. Others believe they should
eat only plants that spread seeds when the plant is eaten.

Boulangerie dans Tours
So Cute
Parisine Night affair
Dreaming with Chocolates
Amor fatal
Where are you sweet Marie
Fireflies in the garden

RED-EYED VIREO
Incessant chattering
That bird has been at it for at least 164 hours straight
Exaggeration
Question of semantics
My definition of a word may differ from yours
DICTIONARY

Phoenicianism & Zionism
M. Thaumaturge, 1826
Language may be central to the national identity
KINGDOM
Rare Concession To Sovereigntist Terminology
Political Movement
History is Brought to Bear to Legitimise Present Occupancy
SOVEREIGN STATE
An ideology, a sentiment, or a social movement
Land of the long white cloud
Aotearoa

Meadow Marieangela Soprano
RENAISSANCE
this equipage turns in wicked ways
strangers
And weep afresh love’s long since cancell’d woe
gratifying
248 poor rude lines

PLEASE THINK ABOUT YOUR FUTURE
I thought you were cool
Silver Radio Diamond Cow
I went to the kitchen to seek consolation
Zero Dollars
PROFESSIONAL QUADRUPED
Camelot Sold
SUCKER MC
Rhymes neither informative nor entertaining
Silver Prices Increase 534%
UNPOPULAR POINTS OF VIEW PRESENTED TO A DISAPPROVING PUBLIC
If I told you, it would no longer be a secret

Stay tuned next week for the follow-up to this story: Readymade Poetry #2: Spam