"Superheroes" and "Comic Man" - Joe Oppenheimer

Super Heroes

Cartoonists draw Super Carrots to –

      Entice donkeys

      to pick up their pace;

Motivate Moms

      to change more diapers,

      and iron more mens’ shirts;

Steel Soldiers

      to deal death swiftly,

      and die in foreign dirts;

Determine Dads

      to work with no stop,

      to not lose the race;

But they keep Kids from studying.

      Kids know a comic

      when they see one.

Comic Man

Old man, dead pan.

Past your prime,

pumping iron all the time

everyday a bit lighter

than

yesterday.

Finish in the shower

cleaning your skin, loose

on that tower

that maybe was

unremarkable in every way,

save the old marine

buzzcut:

of now

missing hair,

gray,

as the far faded red field

in the small

dusty blue

and yellow

now ochre

logo

tattooed

to your upper biceps.

“Superman!” it

advertised -

in small -

lived here,

one

perhaps

heroic moment.

Did you leap

tall buildings

to save

a friend

or dream of stopping crime?

Perhaps you thought

you saved Switzerland

from Nazi time

or told old Churchill

of a coming attack.

With such little reality

to hold,

why not

be bold

and proclaim

yourself –

comic man.