Clark Kent

The decision as to what your career is to be is a very deep and important one,
and it has to do with something like a spiritual requirement and commitment.
–  Joseph Campbell

As I grow older, I see this as his greatest feat:
balancing the day job with his career as superhero.

Explaining the odd absences,
juggling deadlines with time spent
foiling plots to rob banks,
stopping airplanes from crashing,
the strange grease marks on his hands
from picking up trains like toys.

No wonder Lois saw nothing in him past a sort of void;
a man-shaped hole to step around.
No wonder her fascination
with the mythic shadow,
the crimson-blue blur that saves the world.

first written in 2006. Last line obviously recycled in my recent poem about the Justice League.