Birth of a Superhero

An April fool's joke becomes a boon.

I played a joke one April first
on Millionaire Bruce Wayne.
I took his cloak out in the yard
and left it in the rain.

We fool each other constantly,
we trick without regret.
I could not wait to see his face
when he found it was wet.

He found the cloak after the storm
draped on a green lawn chair.
He picked it up and offered me
a long and dirty stare.

I looked at him and beamed a grin
aside the swimming pool.
As he leered at me, cloak in arm,
I bellowed, “April Fool!”

The cloak was fabric sensitive,
and so it shrank a lot.
For weeks I stayed away from Wayne,
since he was mighty hot.

Yet in the end it was just fine;
the shrunken cloak was worn.
Bruce simply wore it as a cape--
that’s how Batman was born.


24 Lines
Writer’s Cramp Winner
April 1, 2013