July 6, 2009
Heroine

The suit torn
Powers fading
So much of her city in peril
before evening news and the last standoff at story-time
A Cheerio stuck to her elbow
Watching the slobbery chin all morning
The shit and toil before noon

imagine the terror crib
a prison cell of fluffy, trampled souls
the teetering monument of dishes still waiting
The ground zero living room
toys looking up with stunned eyes
a frozen teddy bear tossed

the bumbling giant now sucking a forced bottle
at her private park bench, mid-commute
is it groceries or the doctor today?
the child’s red cheeks cool under streams of glassy release
Will the white elixir quell the raw scream?
The winced and angry crinkle of flesh pinching what once was oval-eyed innocence
tighter the dissatisfaction of little fists
the stubby vices quivering in her chest
the calming preoccupation of a bottle
like booze to an alcoholic

For now the world may not end
But if only the hot mug of brown reason weren’t left for dead by her basin of caramelized plates
The first and only sip of salvation long since coursed through her heart

The child calms as the brush strokes of bobbing limbs in the breeze paint the day
The once empty canvas of her life now almost full
She can see the tattered mural -
harmless dalliances by the shoreline
The top down, sunset rearview and radio that one summer
The congregation and her groom waiting
A dress dripped in tears when he smiled
The note dripped with tears when he left
The lonely winters and pale walls of her secret palace
The day her purpose arrived and powers returning
the fewer and fewer dances with sleep
The many villains of time
It is decided now
She will wear many capes -
many tragedies soon averted