
Action Comics
Tom Swift sold Action Comics
Outside the Amazing Gladstoneās
Theatrical Acts of Illusion
To men and women in Forties hats
Whoād pay a nickel for diversion,
Some men stooping for Blackhawk,
Women reaching for Plastic Man.
Far beyond the magicianās curtains,
A fighter pilot was sawn in half
By a Germanās ack-ack, or some "Jap"
With a sneer would make the heroine
Disappear with rope and a blackjack.
All this action without applause,
In the theatre of war, that long winter
Sometime just after ā44, when
My mother was born, in Quebec,
Unaware my father would sneak
Up on ice skates and blind her eyes
With mittens like the fold
Gladstone tied round his assistantās
Pretty face, but not as cold.
poem by Todd Swift
Comments
I especially like this line:
"Unaware my father would sneak"