King of the Seven Seas

by DJCaps

With National Poetry Writers' Month in full swing, we were given a prompt to write a poem from the point of view of a superhero. Guess which one I picked? (I mean, seriously guys, it's right up there in the sub-category name.) A tribute to the Aquaman of the Silver Age. DISCLAIMER: I call Arthur's mom a mermaid. I know she's Atlantean. It's called poetic license.

Like comets streaking through the sky
An airplane plunges to the sea.
Resigned, they fear the end is nigh
Their grave: ten leagues from Mauna Kea.

But, lo, a strange sight churns the waves!
A pod of whales swim close and swift.
These noble creatures, bold and brave,
Join up to form a landing strip.

I summoned them by mental call
For I'm the mortal they call King.
I'm there when troubled luck befalls
The safety of all living things.

Son of a man who lit the beam
Protecting ships from jagged shore
And an exiled mermaid queen
Whose heritage I once ignored.

Yet oceans held tight on my soul;
Its undertow too swift and strong.
I ventured forth like knights of old —
A hero's call, my siren's song.

Uneasy on my brow's the crown
Not bred was I of royalty.
A lighthouse keeper's son, deep down,
With pride in humble ancestry.

I thus send forth my finny friends
To stop foul pirates and their kind.
To darkest depths, my crown defends
The oceans from vile sorts of crime:

Bad men who in mad science play —
From island labs, their monsters breed —
To tycoons wrecking coral bays
Through eco-damage born from greed.

I don a suit of bright scale mail
While perched on a seahorse's back.
The barracudas, sharks, and whales
At beckon call press the attack.

With Neptune's trident in my hand
The waves roll through some mythic source
I drive back evils from dry land,
The seas' sanctity enforced.

So thus is Arthur Curry's reign
The Seven Seas sworn to protect.
I leave, with might of hurricanes,
My villains stranded and shipwrecked.