The Gatekeepers

Most human beings are failed supplicants. They knock on doors which shut in their faces and then console themselves with the notion that good will come of it. “One door closes and another closes,” is the wry attack leveled on Panglossian optimism by Hallie Cohen, a long-time friend of the SP. But imagine yourself on the other side of the fence, shutting doors in the faces of those attempting to hawk their wares. What if you were the Wizard to whom the Cowardly Lion were applying for courage? Let’s say you were an arbiter of taste employed by a tony entertainment outlet to vet the varying broadsides and screeds delivered by hopefuls. Everyone is trying to beat the other out in terms of originality. Everyone wants to turn heads. Everyone's wringing their hands at the heavens. How bout a satire about people who watch television during a pandemic? Nice try you might respond, but needs more specifics. Lo, here’s one about a president who claims "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters." You'd have to toss that one out as tasteless, juvenile and over the top.

Read "As I Lay Down" by Francis Levy (illustration by Hallie Cohen), Noise