Mark Taylor International

Remember all that talk earlier this year about U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew’s signature? It’s hard to call it a signature at all, it looks more like an unfurled slinky. People called the signature “manufactured” — “silly” even. Who cares, right? In a way, we all do because Lew’s signature will soon appear on U.S. currency, although the Treasury Department is coy as to exactly when that’ll happen. But when it does, will the value of the dollar be affected by the value we may place on the handwriting of the Treasury Secretary? Does handwriting have value? Not Wendy Cope’s, at least if you ask her. Cope is a British poet. She crafts profound things out of words — exactly the kind of person you’d expect to find pleasure in putting pen to paper.