A Lifelong Love Affair

First time I saw a linotype
It boggled my mind, I was hyped.
What in the hell is this monster,
I didn't know what would occur.

A love affair lasting for years,
It also was my life's career.
I vividly recall the day,
That first I sat in disarray.

It was a Rube Goldberg nightmare,
So many things for which to scare.
Was vital to the printed page,
Mergenthaler-invented rage.

Too much for me to ever learn,
I was confused at every turn.
Can't do this, oh don't you do that,
It seemed that I was in combat.

It wasn't long I pecked with glee,
The keyboard with ninety-nine-plus keys.
The monster at times give me hell,
Still, wasn't long that I excelled.

That began a thirty-year stint,
Working among pages of print.
Newspapers and print shops galore,
I loved typesetting, not a chore.

Have set the type for Field & Stream,
Even some porn in the extreme.
The Shreveport Times did pay me well,
Brooklyn's Daily News I did dwell.

Many newspapers and print shops,
One to the other I would plop.
A tramp printer, were men like me,
Couldn't stay put we had to flee.

Ink ran in my blood, don't you know?
Found work no matter where I go.
Playboy to your Bible School books,
I worked at whatever it took.

Computers at last did me in,
Linotypes took it on the chin.
Better, quieter, cleaner they said,
The ink inside my veins has bled.

Looking back I do with great pride,
I still have printers ink inside.
I love the computer, but still,
It does not give me the same thrill.