You Can't Be a Hero in Your Dreams

Garrett Murphy---writer

You Can't Be a Hero in Your Dreams

...explores the very idea of heroism---those designated as such, those believing themselves as such, and the very few who truly are heroes. (13 poems, 3 short stories; Self-Published, 2010)

CONTENTS: Western Muse; A Corny Acorn Tale; Along Comes Perata; The Fall of Juan Williams: An Untrue Fable; The Cancellation of "Emmett: The Musical Redux;" Guaranteed #1 Best Seller; Pity Poor Prejean; Arizona G.D.!!!!!; You Can't Be a Hero in Your Dreams; How to Close the Epic Beard Man Show; The Original World War; Thy Love Vamp; What President Obama Should Be Doing with the Flies Who Claim to Be Lords; Meeting of the Two Most Despised Persons in Earth; Emperor Norton Nas Long Been Deposed; From the Keeper of the Oaks to the Disciples of Master Essef.

ISBN 978-1-4507-6420-9

$12.00

WESTERN MUSE

This may possibly hark back to the Old West or before,

Iconic figure,

Larger than life

And larger than all

Especially the adversaries.

Good guys wear White

ARE white

Pure as snow.

Ramrod straight

Chiseled

And larger than all.

GOLDEN BOYS!!!

John Wayne six four

Clint Eastwood six four

Buford Pusser six six

James Arness as Matt Dillon six six

Bumper Morgan

Shoe size 13EEE

Schwarzenegger mass of muscle

Bad guys wear black

Can be black

or

Brown

or

Red

or

Yellow

or

Foreign

Foreign object!

Or even a white

not like the icon

due to lack of size or Aryanism or patrimony or other.

Smaller dark guy

black hats

dark hair

dark complexion

accent

(and we don’t mean the seasoning)

sometimes crippled in some way

such as blind or disabled

or speech impediment

or even

smaller

NOT ramrod straight

of nose

or feature

or complexion.

The Black sheep.

Not like the picture perfect

Larger than Life icons

that continues on to this day

with Jack Reacher six five

Self-confident!

You’d be self-confident too

If you knew you were endowed

With

ALL THE ADVANTAGES!

To say nothing of course

about Superman

and Shazam! Captain Marvel.

Of course self-confidence

Must come by decimating

Self-esteem

Of all the little people

(namely anyone not like the Icon)

As though little more than pesky ants

Crawling all over the picnic.

No wonder six five

Johannes Mehserle

is called a hero by some delusionary folks

for shooting an unarmed black man

barely half his size.

© 2010 Garrett Murphy

THE ORIGINAL WORLD WAR

One follower comes along,

Makes a gesture of sorts,

Says:

“Praise to my deity!

‘Tis the Greatest one of all!”

Another comes along

Makes a gesture of sorts,

Says:

“Praise to my deity!

‘Tis the Greatest of all!”

A third comes along,

Makes a gesture of sorts,

Says:

“All Praise to my deity!

‘Tis the Supreme One of all!”

A fourth comes along,

Makes a gesture of sorts,

Says:

“Sing Praises to my deity!

‘Tis the Mightiest of all!”

and all this continues

to similar effect,

then all you-know-what

begins to percolate…

“What do you mean your deity?

My deity’s the greatest of all!”

“What sacrilege!

Mine is the greatest deity!”

“You’re both wrong!

Mine is the omnipotent deity!”

“Says you!

You’ll all burn in hades

At the feet of my deity!”

“None of your deities can compare with mine!”

“Blasphemer!”

“Sinner!”

“Infidel!”

Needless to say,

Before too long

A battle of all with many fronts has occurred,

And sadly continues to this day.

And one can’t help but surmise to oneself

whether countless distances above the continual war

The various deities who have been referred to by the warriors below

Are shaking their heads with resignation and sympathy,

As they discuss amongst themselves this well-worn query:

“What have we done to deserve these for our followers!”

© 2010 Garrett Murphy