James Francis Cahillane

 THE KRYPTON KID

The act of reading occurred,

Like creation, in sage steps.

.

First awareness of selfhood

Was there. Idolatry, beyond

Teacher’s axioms and action

Words became rationality.

Take comics for instance:

Captain Marvel’s, “Shazam!”

Superman’s, “Faster than...”

In them I invested my youth.

In them I found me: grown up.

Doing deeds I could not do,

Never would do. Before girls

Intruded, icons fought for me.

Together we were something.

All alone, I was nothing.

Just a foam-flecked

Blue daddy’s boy.

Comically literate.

Ilya’s Honey, Dallas Poets Community, Dallas, Texas.