Today is National Superhero Day. Over the years I’ve written a series of poems about “heroes.” In my last collection, “The Black Blood of Poetry,” which I am shopping around, is this poem:

In Search of a Black Hero

Coming of age in a world without heroes,

Though try as we might to create them:

Batman, Tarzan, Superman –

From comic books, literature, and an insane philosopher.

Tabloids creating latter-day heroes,

From people deputized to serve and protect

To people who have taken the law into their own hands.

Fed a constant staple of bloody news,

Vigilantism as the main course.

Coming of age in a world without heroes,

Though try as we might to create them:

Athletes, entertainers, and even politicians –

From people blessed with power, speed, and height

To dreamers dreaming seemingly impossible dreams.

Madison Avenue magicians conjuring up images

     Of heroes to worship.

Sports pages praising latter-day heroes,

From sluggers to hoopsters

To the all-American Golden White Boy.

Coming of age in a world without heroes,

Though try as we might to create them.

Coming of age in a world without heroes,

Though try as we might to create them.