Sorry, I’m Not Superman

My mother says that I cannot save the world.

            The people are not my obligation.

She knows that my efforts will prove fruitless.

            But I know something too.

*

I know apathy like a cancer grows.

            (The tumour is the size of bullet holes.)

I know that I have to stand on my desk

            And scream out my pleas.

*

I pledge allegiance to the idea,

            The oh-so radical proposition,

That people are people, that love is love.

            That the future is ours.

*

My motivation is of love and hope,

            Humanity’s certain desire to create,

And the glimpse of something better than now.

            I will not be silent.

*

While the cellphones of the silenced still ring,

            When nothing is heard but bigotry, hate.

While there is still something I can, must do.

            While hope remains in light.

*

Free will will never been an illusion,

            Not if I have something to say ‘bout it.

Arcadia will decorate my fists,

            Ignorance is not bliss.

*

I know that I cannot save the whole world.

            But I can love it, and love it I do.

The bandages will be painted and bright,

            The scars flower-covered.

*

 

Rationale:

Sara Parker’s poem Sorry, I’m Not Superman relates to the themes of the power of an individual, and how one becomes motivated in the face of oppression or injustice. It is a semi-structured poem, formed in to seven quatrains, each with three lines of ten syllables and one line with six syllables. The title itself has a sarcastic undertone, symbolizing that it will be much more difficult for the author to disassemble the status quo, to “fight”, than it is for Superman to defeat his enemies. The poem itself is a call to action, a call for the reader to speak out and help destroy society’s apathy towards disaster.