Connie Post
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Superhero Support Group
Sitting in a circle
drinking black coffee from heavy mugs,
they go on and on
about how tired they are,
of hiding behind brick buildings
leaping between skyscrapers
– how hard it is, to learn to breathe
between the narrow misses
always tragically pulled away
from their lovers,
leaving them in empty alleys
their clothes usually torn
their mouths open – wordless
always teetering on leaving the scene
just as a thundercloud is bursting
They think constantly
of the helpless men in uniform
the crowds of people, always looking up
a city, always left in ruins
They yearn, for more closet space
for all their capes and armor
wish there were more ways
to contemplate metamorphosis
instead they are always running,
even in their dreams
catching up with the runaway stroller
finding the last telephone booth
before their true identity is revealed
They are exhausted
always wrestling with the duende
the shadow that feeds itself
even while reading a book
inside a dimmed and private den,
next to a quietly crackling fire
always splitting the night in two
forgetting sometimes, how to shed
their second skins
All they really want
is to be able to walk down a street,
not always be forced to notice
the frail old woman,
just entering a dangerous crosswalk
When they set their masks
on the nightstand
they often dream of
a one story home in the suburbs,
a home cooked dinner
made by the hands of the women
they have always loved
After a quiet night on the couch
watching a boring newscast,
they fade off quietly into their bedroom
with a Jacuzzi hot tub, a fake fireplace,
and a spacious walk-in closet
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Connie Post served as Poet Laureate of Livermore, California ( 2005 to 2009). Her work has appeared in Calyx, Kalliope, Blue Fifth Review, Cold Mountain Review, Crab Creek Review, Comstock Review, Slipstream, Pirene’s Fountain, The Pedestal Magazine & Valparaiso Poetry Review, She won the 2009 Caesura Poetry Award. Her chapbook And When the Sun Drops won the Aurorean Fall 2012 Editor’s Choice award. Her first full length manuscript Floodwater was released this year by Glass Lyre Press.