I. What’s Wrong
Wonder women has her happy-pills scattered across
the table. She fire dances with a carton of milk
and thinks she has whiskers.
II. Rifle
Superman retires. Clark Kent sits at his desk writing stories
for the Daily Planet. Tears tremble down his marble
face. The rifle next to the desk, empty.
III. Stethoscope
Batman loses his keys. Bruce Wayne is late for his doctors
appointment. The cold steel stethoscope catches
a heart murmur.
IV. Greed
Spiderman robs a liquor store in the Bronx.
Peter Parker slips on his bearskin rug
and yells, “DADDY!”
V. Forgiveness
Aquaman writes an “easy to do” book on communicating
with marine animals. During an interview with NBC
he breaks down staring at an empty chair.
VI. She comes, and Goes
Storm quits the X-Men and opens a boarding house. She lives
to be an old women, changes the weather to fit her moods.
On her deathbed her hair turns a murderous black.
Cadence Collective: Long Beach Poets 