Form: Superfabulous

What I liked about Molly Kennedy's "Superfabulous" was the fact that it was written in free verse. I think that expresses a freedom that formed poems cannot express. The lack of a traditional verse form mirrors the poem's point: that homosexuals should be accepted within our society. The poem is about the speaker hearing on the news that Superman was gay and there is some sort of public outcry. The speaker then points out that Superman is also an illegal alien, he has a bad influence on kids ("Superman shows preschoolers that, yes, sweetie,/it's ok to walk around with your underwear outside your pants"), and that he is a Jesus Christ figure, yet no one raises any question about any of those things, even though they are prevalent news topics in today's media.
This poem doesn't have a rhyme scheme, or any sort of stanza form, or any sort of meter. It is like the speaker is just telling us a story. What sticks out is the varying length of the stanzas and lines. Some stanzas are twelve lines long; others are just four, and there are single lines spread through the poem. This forces us to read the shorter lines of the poem. When the speaker is talk about how she "can blame the Human Torch/for making me into a pyrotechnic" she immediately replies with a short, 3-line stanza: "No. You're right./I was playing with lighters and WD-40/before I even knew who the Fantastic Four were." This forces the reader to realize that superheroes didn't influence the speaker to play with lighters. The speaker subtly uses this example to prove her point; that not all little kids are influenced by what superheroes do, so gay Superman isn't necessarily going to turn little kids gay. The last eight lines of the poem are a perfect example:
     If Superman were gay,
     Superman would be supergay.
     Superman would be fabulous.
     Superman would be Superfabulous.
     Superman would walk up to Lex Luthor with jazz hands,
     Slap him across the face and go,

     World domination? I don't think so, honey!


     And the world would be a better place for it.

The point of these lines are clear: being gay isn't a bad thing. The author uses stereotypical gay mannerisms in this passage to prove her point; her use of the word 'fabulous,' the fact that Superman would use jazz hands and slap the bad guy instead of punch him, and that Superman used the word 'honey.' The reader can almost hear Superman say the italicized sentence in their head, because we have those stereotypes in our heads as well, but the author justifies it at the end by saying "the world would be a better place for it." This final sentence, in separating it from the rest of the poem, gets gently forced into the reader's mind.