What Batman Dreams About . For Daniel Crocker. by Mike James

           

The tears of Iceman’s wife, liquid and flowing south

Towards a river with no end.

A stock market crash.  

Or some variation of life without money.

AKA life without toys.

AKA an absence of super-powers.

The Bat-Signal, there on the walls of his skull,

When his eyes first close.

Robin. In and out of his Robin suit.

Cutting the grass at Wayne Manor.

(The most frequent dream.)

Catwoman in all her different versions.  

A little kid, dressed as a cowboy, yelling,

“BOO Batman!”

Parking tickets.

Red, concrete high heels.

Overdue library books.

The fifth grade spelling bee. The failure to spell flippantly.

As in, “The Joker answers all questions flippantly.”

Telling Wonder Woman he’d like to try

Her magic lasso. On himself.

On Robin. On Catwoman.

On all of them together

In the warm, slippery darkness of the Batcave.

 Mike James has been widely published in magazines throughout the country in such places as Laurel Review, Negative Capability, Birmingham Poetry Review, and Chiron Review. His eleven poetry collections include: Crows in the Jukebox (Bottom Dog), My Favorite Houseguest (FutureCycle), and Peddler’s Blues (Main Street Rag.) He has served as an associate editor for the Kentucky Review and Autumn House Press, as well as the publisher of the now defunct Yellow Pepper Press. He makes his home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. More information can be found on his website at mike.jamespoetry.com.