Not Sweating the Small Stuff

Michael Leunig - Cartoonist Philosopher and Social Critic

Michael Leunig is an Australian cartoonist (b. 1945), whose work can seem at first sweet and gentle ... but then there can be a biting and thought-provoking after taste. Like the delicious bitterness of very dark chocolate. Using irony like a razor sharp hatchet, his concerns seem to fall into three distinct categories: political, religious and humanist.

Some examples of the first group:




Some of the second:






And some from the last and my favourite group:

When the heart
Is cut or cracked or broken
Do not clutch it
Let the wound lie open

Let the wind
From the good old sea blow in
To bathe the wound with salt
And let it sting

Let a stray dog lick it
Let a bird lean in the hole and sing
A simple song like a tiny bell
And let it ring

Let it go. Let it out.
Let it all unravel.
Let it free and it can be
A path on which to travel.

His is work that makes you think, long after you've put the book/newspaper/whatever away.