Normative Signs: The Poetry of "Ought"

Although I’m primarily fascinated by the language of normative signs, sometimes the beauty of a normative sign has nothing to do with the way it’s worded.

This picture was taken at the parking lot of a small commercial building in Santa Monica. It shows a sign fighting an uphill battle against an invasive vine. I love how this little sign — in some regards, the very essence of modern civilization — is beset on all sides by aggressive foliage. It’s downright goddam poetic.

Or, to flip the metaphor, the vines fought the ‘law,’ and for now the ‘law’ has won.