It was second grade, Mrs. Ghetti’s class
Right at the beginning of spring
Every student was asked to give a short presentation of who their father was
It was my turn
So I peeled myself from my seat
Smile at Melissa who just gave a wonderful presentation of who her father was
Even though I knew that she didn’t know him
Pushed my chair up just loud enough to scare myself into turning around and walking those seven steps to the front of the class
And with one deep breath and with one fractured smile
I did as I did every other time that I lied
I stood up straight, locked eyes with my listeners and made loud my voice
My daddy is big
My daddy is strong
My daddy can fix anything that goes wrong
My daddy is the best daddy in the whole wide world
My daddy is superman
Yeah, I daddy is super…man
The lies shocked me
And they pulled at my heart just like they did every other child’s in the room
But it was me that was left jealous
‘Cuz when I went home in the evening
My daddy didn’t wear a cape
And my daddy didn’t fly
But he had a way of making dreams and your emotions die
Somehow my imagination had wrapped super around this man
Somehow my mind saw the trail of hurt and tears that followed behind him as a cape
But my daddy didn’t wear a suit
And my daddy didn’t fly
But he had a way of making my mom’s love and my memories of her die
And that was very crafty of him for only having a third grade education
Which meant that he couldn’t read all too well
Couldn’t help you out in algebra, geometry, biology or chemistry
But what he could do was count and he had power in his hands
He had power to turn five fingers into one sledgehammer that knocked beauty from your face
He had power to pull one fetus from one womb and cause five fingers to become into one casket
He had power in one hand to shut up one mouth and cause my momma to never say that she love you
He had power in ten fingers to pull out ten years of my memory of what my momma’s face looked like
He made my mom and me ugly
People always said how she and I looked so much alike
So he knocked the symmetry from our faces
Left us and our love in broken pieces
But somehow my imagination saw that as mosaic art
My daddy had the power to make gold look like dirt
And to make ashes look like diamonds
And for this craftiness I foolishly praised him
See my daddy didn’t have ray beams shooting from his eyes
And my daddy couldn’t fly
But he always had a way of making me lie
My daddy is superman
Yeah, my daddy is super man