-superhero-
*by someone who busted out*
(frankie leone, just a man)
*lady luck took his ability
to separate fantasy from reality
he was an enormous man
capable of effective brutality
but devoid of the impulse
his heart 24 karat gold
and his skin burnt coffee
marked by many scars
he’d smile
revealing a mouth of false teeth
glowing with an ironic brotherly love
my space-heater
in times lost on tundra
he was my friend*
*i’d sit with him
hearing his stories
knowing they were figments
of his imagination
cigarettes were scarce
but i’d give what i could spare
light them
and listen
he gladly retold
the ever-changing stories
of the origins of his scars
maybe the one about
what was plainly a gun-shot wound
below his barrel of a rib cage
maybe the one about
the long slash running down his cheek
unmistakably made with an angry razor blade
i’d listen
i’d tell him he was my brother
he’d tell me about his adventures
with comic-book heroes
like the green lantern
i’d listen
i’d smile
he’d tell me his hands
were once made of metal
but he gave them to his cell-mate
a friend
years ago during a different bid
in r***** state penitentiary
to make that friend a superhero
so he could escape
i’d listen
i’d light up his cigarette
he’d light up his eyes*
*that place i found him
was dark on sunny days
but he was a flicker
i’ll be forever grateful
for his adventures
with the green-lantern
and the metal hands
he gave his cell-mate.*
