The Maynard
Spring 2018

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drowning man is not a superhero

he’s the amazing alcoholic with no power of
responsibility. wears an idle cape of despair.
armed with denial and self-destruction. drinks
to forget his shame of drinking. cradles his
kryptonite to sleep. walks through time machines
to speak primitive tongue with strangers. to engage
in knuckle psalm. fist verse. he once awoke in a field
and thought he landed on the moon. looked up
to see the astronaut’s lightbulbs and a bright
stream of fuselage tailing a lone vessel. his
therapist called this a shooting star. said he was
inspired by the superpower of motion blindness.
but drowning man knows what he saw: a hero
hurtling through space, gifted to a sober planet.