Leather and Light
I
Worn souls. Waiting to display
humour and economy in line.
A camaraderie of shared intent
ripples along this high corridor,
but at the desk it is a knockout
punch which wins column inches.
Rejection weighs heavy. It makes
the ride down quicker but they will
keep coming back in new shoes.
II
Cyberspace has no emotion
and no smell. No imprint left
by inky fingers.Quick and certain
as flashlights finding brick walls,
or laser rings around the moon,
this receipt for dreams offers
no sure acceptance but suggests
the door is open to virtual success.
Tony Noon
I don’t think The New Yorker is going to publish this poem , which is a tribute to the intrepid Contributors to the world famous magazine. For many years , the only way you could hope to get a cartoon published was to turn up on a particular day and queue with all the other hopefuls to get an instant yes or no on your latest creations. I always loved the idea of this. Although they were competing , literally hand to hand , for scarce space in the mag , the ritual and the queue itself created a shared experience which in turn created lifelong friendships in a profession better known for the isolation of many individual artists.
Leather refers to the worn shoe leather caused by schlepping across the city to join the queue for weeks and years…
Light refers to the internet with its infinite corridors where we can wait without chatting.
The cartoon is pure fiction. Enjoy…
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