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Posts Tagged ‘superhero’

Wonder Woman Writes Back

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on August 12, 2025| 2 Comments »


 
That strapless suit, those high heel boots,
those were lures. The invisible plane was, too.
The real story was always the Lasso of Truth,
that golden rope forged by Hephaestus.
Superman has his vision. The Hulk
has his strength, but sweetheart,
there is no power stronger than the truth—
the willingness to want it, the urgency
to find it, the longing to know it,
even when the truth is something
we’d rather not hear. I know you don’t
have the luxury of a lasso, but
you have poems, and they will help you
question everything you know.
Our greatest enemies are always
the ones inside us, especially
when it comes to the truth. Your greatest
gift is your wonder. Let it rope
around you, invite you into
a listening beyond the words.
What is true will always escape.
Still, devote yourself to such listening,
to a practice of circling what is true.
That circling is what will save you.
 

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WordWoman Joins the MCU

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on June 13, 2024| 26 Comments »


Long after the Avengers have obliterated Thanos
and Ant Man has saved the Quantum Realm,
after the Vibranium is secured by Wakanda
and the Guardians of the Galaxy protect the universe again,
the Russo brothers return to the silver screen
with their newest hero, WordWoman, disguised
as a middle-aged mother and wife.  
She wields a pen. A journal. A library of slender books.
No one would ever suspect she could be a hero,
least of all her. Heck, she can’t even keep the rodents
out of her garden, much less root the evil out of the world.
Audiences yawn as they watch her sit at her kitchen counter
in her slouchy sweater and wool slippers. For hours.
“Where’s the action?” someone shouts as he gets up
for another bucket of buttered popcorn.
That’s when Stan Lee shows up as the UPS man,
shocking everyone, and he delivers her a copy
of Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet. Cut to the next scene,
she’s in a black pleather bodysuit wearing lots of mascara,
a dark ponytail high on her head streaked with silver.
She’s ripped and ready to do what it takes to make peace.  
“Was that Neruda?” someone whispers in the front aisle
as she slings poems, one after another,
stunning her enemies into silence.
“I think Amichai,” someone says. “Or Shihab Nye.”
When the movie is over, most people are grumbling
that superheroes just aren’t what they used to be.
But in the back, perhaps, a young girl is scribbling
words on a napkin. She’s ready to save the world.

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At the Birthday Party

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on July 24, 2015| 1 Comment »

After they save the world, the girls

know there will be ice cream cake.

But first, they decorate and don their sparkling masks.

They be-jeweled and glue flowers onto flowing white capes.

They are all seven now, and they know

a thing or two about the life of a superhero—

it’s hard and takes teamwork. As they prepare,

Bubbles suggests they plan to stick together—

none of them wants to go it alone.

Fire Girl, Superwoman and Lunta agree.

The mission is harder than they thought.

Superwoman, though she has powers

of super speed and super strength,

also learns she is afraid

of tall grass and snakes.

Lunta, though she has powers of snow and ice,

has to ditch her shiny black dress shoes

mid-mission. She opts for pink sneakers instead.

As they face the world’s foes,

they stop to pick daisies

and strew the white petals in a pond.

They chant and sing and cast spells

and find pretty rocks by the river.

They notice damselflies and orange butterflies

and look in the willows for nests.

In an hour the job is done.

All ten of the world’s greatest foes

have been found and chastised and glitter bombed.

And now the heroes are hungry.

While eating the cake, no one

boasts that she did more work than the others.

They talk about going back to the pond

to swim and canoe, which they do.

For hours they splash and paddle and negotiate

how to share the one float toy

that everyone wants. Who could

recognize them now without

their masks and capes, these girls

who are saving the world?

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