Long before Michael B. Jordan was rumored
as the next Superman, I have what if’ed
a Black family finding a White baby in 1958.

I imagined Jim Crow teaching Clark humility,
to bite his Kryptonian tongue hard enough
to bleed and give him some semblance

of a loved-one’s pain. I imagined the stares
he’d get, like the ones White Mom and I
got at the market, the eyes that question:

who is in service of whom and how much
they paying? I imagined it wouldn’t take
long for people to see Clark is special. 

I imagined it wouldn’t take long
for him to be separated from his family,
like when Child Protective Services

was called on Brown Dad because White
Brother had too long a history of bruises
and broken bones under fare skin, ignore 

the history of hydrocephalusy
and the absence of coordination.
I imagine the Kents don’t get as lucky

as Brown Dad did with the birthing doctor
passing by and marveling at how special
White Brother is for walking and lisping

at all. I imagine dark-skinned parents
loving the light-skinned boy
as he’s taken away.

Christian Hanz Lozada is the son of an immigrant Filipino and a descendent of the Confederacy. His heart beats with hope and exclusion. He co-authored the poetry book Leave with More Than You Came With from Arroyo Seco Press and the history book Hawaiian in Los Angeles. His poems and stories have appeared in Hawaii Pacific Review (Pushcart Nominee), Drunk Monkey, A&U Magazine, Rigorous Journal, Cultural Weekly, Dryland, among others. Christian has featured at the Autry Museum, the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, Tebot Bach, and Beyond Baroque. He lives in San Pedro, CA and uses his MFA to teach his neighbors’ kids at Los Angeles Harbor College.