Superman
By Paul Michelsen
for Clarissa & Carmina
I shuffled the deck
Not playing cards or Tarot
but 59 cards, each representing
one of the Buddhist lojong slogans.
I picked number 59
which could be the first or last line
of an American-style haiku
with its five syllables.
First let me tell you
what for some reason this card
made me think of, or
Who, I should say:
A little girl dressed as Superman.
I remember watching her
as she watched Superman
A 21st century child watching
a superhero movie from 1978
that came out when I was little.
She sat there watching
the dialogue-heavy first 30 minutes
patiently waiting for when it really gets exciting
Taking in, along the way
the more subtle miracles
before our hero
puts on his costume
bright with primary colors
the red cape flying like a flag
seeming to carry someone
who looks like the rest of us
(Maybe that’s inaccurate,
as far as there were children
who didn’t see themselves
in the alien with the white face,
though I only meant
someone who looks human)
My daughter recognized herself as the hero,
and we bought her a costume
to match what she saw in the mirror,
greeting her always with
Hey, Superman!
I got a black t-shirt with the silver S-symbol,
representing Jor-El, Superman’s father,
which is what I was
And while Buddhism has taught me
that I’m in many ways
none of the things
I’ve identified myself as all my life
I’ll always be Superman’s Dad
So you could say
Marlon Brando played me in a movie
And from what I’ve heard
Brando read all his lines
off of cue cards by this point in his career,
even going so far as to have
some of them taped onto
his co-stars’ foreheads.
I picture myself on the set
in my black t-shirt with the silver S on it,
my wife, Superman’s mother,
standing in front of me
The camera shows the back of her hair
But I haven’t taped a card to her forehead
I’d never put the mother of Superman
in such an undignified position
Not that she would’ve allowed it if I tried.
She leans forward and whispers my line
which like a good has-been I repeat
as if I’d written it myself
or at least remembered it on my own.
And even though I’m saying it aloud
as though she’s the one that needs to hear it
I know the line is really for me, in every way
Not only to say, but to hear
And not only to hear, but to remember
And not only to remember, but to tell myself,
and repeat, as needed
Lojong slogan #59: Don’t expect applause.
But it doesn’t say don’t do it for others
So I clap and cheer
For the mother of Superman
And for the little girl wearing the red cape
And for the woman she has become
And for the hero she will always be.
Photo courtesy of Paul Michelsen.
Paul Michelsen works as a Speech-Language Pathologist for the Clark County School District. His work can be found in the book Next Line, Please: Prompts to Inspire Poets and Writers, edited by David Lehman, with Angela Ball (Cornell University Press, 2018). He has one beautiful wife, two wonderful children, an active third eye, a four-legged Labradoodle, and often feels like a fifth wheel. And, speaking of the Wheel, he would like to buy a vowel.