He must have super powers
(Written 2010 1006)

He must have super powers
Spandex suit tucked under
His t-shirt and jeans
Mask and secret identity
Stuffed into his back pocket
Not the one with the wallet
The other one.

He must have super powers
The power to see invisible people
Doctor Xavier with his very own Cerebro
Brainwaves amplified and honing in
On mutant brainwaves
Invisible folks picked out
Small pebbles in the tread of a shoe

He must have super powers
Or maybe he just doesn’t believe
In my powers of invisibility
Harry Potter cloaking device
But knocking stuff over and sneezing
It must have been the foot prints
In the snow that gave me away.

I tried to be still, to breathe
Quietly, evenly
But he detected.
A tremor in the force?
Infra-red thermal sensors perhaps?
Dang it! I should have covered myself
In cold mud on the way to class
Slid down rain soaked hills,
Wallowed in freezing puddles
Gnawed on handfuls of ice
So that I would be able
To back bend under radar limbo sticks
So that I would be able
To avoid detection

Perhaps he was just humoring me
Amused by my futile attempts
To impersonate furniture
Chameleon skills totally imagined
His keen powers of observation
Zeroing in on rough edges
As I tried my best to match the décor
Smiling while I closed my eyes
And told myself, “I’m invisible!”