‘Superman Is Dead, Long Live Superman’

Kai Kim-Suzuki is a high school senior at Fieldston School in New York City. He particularly enjoys monochromatic, minimalist nature photography. His other main creative outlet is cooking a mean breakfast for himself every single morning. He hopes to pursue mechanical engineering in college.

Superman Is Dead, Long Live Superman

11 years old
Queens, New York
1959
We’re stone silent after cracking wise
about the news of George Reeves’ suicide
each joke a variation on TV’s Superman
shooting himself with a Kryptonite bullet.
We huddle in the cavern of a fallout shelter
each of us holding on dearly desperately
to the latest Superman comic book
still beguiled by this all-American alien
still keeping secret his transparent dual identity
this hero both mild-mannered and so daring
who kills something in us along with himself
yet still joins us on our fitful flights of fancy.

Robert Eugene Rubino has published prose and poetry in various online and print journals. He's old enough to remember the Cuban Missile Crisis and smart enough to solve The New York Times crossword puzzle on Mondays (other days not so much).