Poem- Lego Man
He was so convinced that he
Was Superman, atop a building
Where nobody cared
About the dog that just got
Run over as she chased
Her ersatz paper bread crust
About the man in room
Four hundred and twelve
Marveling at the taste of a gun
About the straight-A student
Lying in the alley unable to
Stand as they walked away laughing
He was so convinced that he
Could rip open his thrift shop suit
And lift the world up from itself
That he didn’t notice he’d
Dug too deep with overeager fingers
Until the Legos began to spill out
Yellows and blues and
Reds and greens plus a few
Blacks and whites for society’s sake
They spilled forth from the cavity
Like rain in Technicolor from the television
Thrown away by his dead neighbor’s son
And still nobody cared until the
Craters began to pepper the sidewalk with
Bursts of color and melted plastic naïveté
Look up there! they
Cried with their pointed fingers
And eyes agape with a misunderstanding
He watched them watch him watch
Himself as the Legos rained
Down with a clattering not unlike gold
Smudged by chubby fingers in the
Playroom stacking and snapping blocks
That they truly believe will change the world
The last few rattle out and leave him
Emptier than he’d expected for someone with
So many dreams and a plan to save us all
Until a last chunk of Legos toss
Themselves off his sinking ship in the
Shape of his all-red caricature heart
He watched this fall with the
Greatest sense of loss as if those
Thousands of others meant nothing at all
Even as his Lego legs snapped and crackled he
Bent over to the edge and reached out for that
Heart though he knew he couldn’t catch it
Until one child in the crowd of grown-up
Souls reached her hands back and
Cupped his heart in her physics-defying little hands
Coated with chocolate milk
Spilled on the way to school as Mama
Tugged her along with an unusual fervor
She raised it up to him jumping like she’d
Won the world for the two of them alone
And he knew it would all be okay.