The Fourth Man in the Fire

Home from a hard day's Armageddon,
slipping out of spandex and into spectacles,
from one high life bold above the abandon
into another (shall we say less Pericles

than Prospero), I find that I suspect
this Superman I've become. Dressing down
is easier, the lie somehow less circumspect.
And though this too is dressing up, the clown

suit cum reporter's wardrobe boasts less blood
between the seams. I don't mind the dumbing
down, really. Being the neighborhood
god, all guts and gusto, well, it's numbing.

But here, just another byline for a vast news magnate,
I can stumble, fumble, fail. I can always quit the Planet.

Copyright © 2002 Bryan D. Dietrich All rights reserved
from Krypton Nights
Zoo Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission