POEM - The Hellion, the Print Shop and Me

I learned a lot from the Hellion

Sitting down there in the basement

Below the schmaltzy art gallery

In the heart of the Old Town

Working hard at looking like I was working

For the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce

The Hellion was named Joe

And he ran the print shop

Joe looked like a Tom Selleck impersonator

With his 70’s black mustache

And the way he carried himself

He was the king of the barter

During my down times we’d talk

I’d do some layout for a business card

Or set type for some stationary

Or listen to him rant on and on

About being a self-made man 

Preaching work and practical knowledge

To a stream of guys heading for college

Always telling us a degree wasn’t a solution

All of us never dissuaded in the least

From wanting to go to school

And not be working in the warehouse

When we were as old as the Hellion

Still he did have a Harley

And he’d take me out to lunch

Whenever I did a job

Or just because he had a hankering

To head out and hit Phil’s

For the best cheesesteaks around

It was fun watching the print machine

With its thousands of gears

Cranking out the copies

At lightning speed

I learned how air was the lubricant for paper

How the ink was hydrophobic

Learned how the print plates are made

And of course the proper way to stack paper

The shop was full of fun machines

They would collate whole booklets

Fold flyers 15 different ways

Staple way deep in the fold two at a time

Chop a straight line in a big stack of paper

Or lick a thousand envelopes in nothing flat

For the kid who only liked Mr. Rogers

When he would show a film about doing stuff

This was the best parts all day long

Eventual Joe even taught me book layout

Helped me print a collection of my poems

Did it right there in the shop

From left over paper he had

Got to use all the machines

Turned out pretty good

Still have most of them

If you want a copy just ask