hang up your capes: a poem

(Preface: I read a ton of comics and lately I have been thinking about the concept of superheroes. Hopefully, this will seem less like a tirade against superheroes and more of a call to work together for a better world. We don’t need superheroes that bring easy solutions, it won’t last. We need to struggle with our own issues of racism, sexism, the prison-industrial-complex, ableism, heterosexism and much more, that together justice may reign and last.)

Hang Up Your Capes

Superheroes annoy me.
I don’t need them coming into my city and tell me what’s wrong,
I have lived with these villains much longer than they have.

I don’t need the CEOs who have the power to create
better technologies to save the day¹.
They’re the ones who pay off politicians and Supreme Court rulings².

I don’t need superheroes.
Their capes hide the need for social reform.
They are missionaries spreading themselves as Gospel.

I don’t need aliens from other planets³,
Scientists who messed up experiments⁴,
Or heroes with animal-like abilities⁵.

I have my own bad guys and public transportation problems.
So leave you strong arms! You Batmans, Supermans, and Iron Mans.
Hang up your capes and bury your masks.

But I don’t want to be the super hero either.
I want to be myself and want others to be themselves.
And together, I want to build a better city.

It’s not going to happen overnight like those with superpowers.
It’s probably not going to happen in my lifetime.
But as long as I am part of it now, I’ll be okay.

(1) Iron Man
(2) The Koch brothers, the Supreme Court, and a new kind of liberty
(3) Superman (also, great video on Superman as undocumented)
(4) Bruce Banner (the Hulk)
(5) Wolverine, Spiderman, etc.