Heroes

Do you remember Falconboy?
Of course you do. You flew
with him a couple times, hooked
on his amiable talons. He
helped you spot the kidnapped
daughter of the sage Carina.
That was how you came to be
rewarded with your gift.
Only reason I ask is that
I saw him
a couple days ago, spearing
burgers on his claws
as he flipped them for a queue
of smaning kids, impatient
for grease.
Dead-eyed, he didn't see me pass.

How about Vertigo? I caught her eye
last Sunday, as she folded another bundle
of fashion into the bag
of a card-thrusting mute.
I could see she was itching
to launch everything - shop, card,
sunlight-scowling customer -
into orbit around some distant rock,
but she didn't. She swiped the strip
and murmured thanks.

And today, as I bumbled by
the fruit stall, who should be stood,
meditating over whether or not
to render a pear explosive, hurling it
at the hundredth whiner
to demand a discount,
than Fleety's mentor, Fuse.
I wanted to talk
but there was a queue,
and the words dried on my tongue
like fish on a lawn,
so I walked on.