There’s Batman, Superman;
a herd of Deadpools, Rorshach.
There’s a Borg, Darth Vader.
There’s Master Chief, a little sister, and Ryu.
There’s a ******* clad big breasted anime character I know nothing about
but would be open to learning.
From every universe, there are characters galore.
This is not Halloween, though.
A wonderland saturated in smiles and so much joy and cheer.
Yet, it’s not Christmas; but it is indeed a holiday—
a celebration of all things geeky.
The almighty comic book convention.

A sea of fans flood the floors,
locusts ready to devour every morsel of entertainment.
Everyone from casual readers
to those with a superhuman ability to retain every panel,
every iota of detail about their favorite hero universe.
There’s little boys and adults alike dressed as their hero;
the fan who wanted to join the Empire so badly
that he jumped out of his Death Star sheets and spent the last 8 months
painstakingly recreating storm trooper armor.
There’s women who like to dye their hair, cram cleavage into tight vinyl
and wield a sword so comic book geeks can drool over a fantasy.
You can find the rare print comic you’ve been scouring eBay for–
like Amazing Fantasy #15 that first features Spider-Man.
You can thank your favorite writer for issue number 29,
page 7, panel 3 because it changed your life.
You can shake the hand of the man that drew
the ***** belonging to your first crush;
catch the first preview of your favorite character
moving from small page to big screen.
Booth after booth after booth is a yet another world to get lost in.
At 4 o'clock is a meet and greet
with the actors from your favorite show based off a comic
Forget mouse ears and kiddie rides-
this is like ***, maybe better.
This is where dreams come true.

I came in costume, myself.
Before I left the house, I paced tracks into the carpet.
back and forth, back and forth in front of the mirror.
My hair needs to be perfect,
My smile perfect,
My clothes perfect.
Everything about my appearance needs to be perfect
The convention is the chance to be a work of art,
a way to be the most super of heroes, the most vile of villains,
or the most obscure.
A chance to be someone
you’re not but wish every day you could be.

It’s like I’m the invisible man,
no one recognizes this costume.
But I did this for me.
Today I get to be different.
Today I dressed up as someone you’ll never let me be.
I cosplayed as your lover.