THE COMIC BOOK

by Lee Stern


 

Everything I know today I have learned from the comic book.

When I sail my boat on the water

it is only because the comic book has instructed me accordingly.

And when I speak to you I imagine that the balloon

above my head contains all the hundreds of words I will ever need.

Especially when I desire to express myself in a forthright manner.

And if you happen upon me by chance some day in a crowded area,

do not grieve for me if you see me studying only the comic book-

even when the other courses I have sampled are still in session.

Do not think to yourself, Here is an ignorant man bereft of knowledge.

Instead, give thanks to the man who has created the comic book.

And to the woman who has sanctified it with her own cloth.

For the distributors of the comic books set aside your most golden plates.

And overlook their obnoxious behavior when the time comes.

Even if the effort when it is prolonged becomes more than you can endure.

For in this, too, surely I will be there to set you straight.

And, yes, I will be there to turn the pages of the comic book for you

even in the most diminishing light of this earth.

I will be there for you in real time-

not to urge you to measure the intensity of the provocative light.

But its quality- and the impact that its goodness produces

on the sound originating in the depths of our illustrated minds.




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