IN PRAISE OF COMICS

for GJ

If I could write comics
and not poems,
I would terrify you
with pictures of zombies
tearing the flesh
from the bones of children.
A post-apocalyptic wilderness
peopled with mutants
and the struggle of a man
and his daughter to survive.

I would write in black and white
on black and white pictures.
I would learn
how to do a woodcut print.
Everything I drew would be relief.

Sometimes I think I'm a superhero
and one giant leap
into the sky will change
the world for good.
Sometimes my adamantium skeleton
bends against the page.
Sometimes I am Flash Gordon.

I did not draw the final showdown.
I did not draw Doc Holiday's gun
or the robot's stare.
I did not draw the flesh wound
or the fatal graze. I did not frame it.
The artery was busy being art.