in his image

by dale rappaneau

in honor of a life well lived, the

angels hired

him to be the patron saint of

sexual misconduct,

 

entrusting him with a little desk

near the prayer

department. he filed paperwork to

help people

 

fornicate. he wrote memos in

defense of divorce.

at the holiday parties, angels

toasted his aptitude

 

for instilling lust into lonely

housewives. in time they

promoted him to manager of

extramarital affairs, and

 

boy he knew how to swing and

jive and spread

wide those beautiful white wings.

on the weekends

 

he slipped away to earth to see

about all that sex:

the unbuttoned blouses and ball

gags and headboards

 

banging motel walls as if begging

entrance to the land

of milk and honey. and come

monday morning he returned

 

to heaven, to his ivory desk there

upon high, where

with a smile and a nod he

continued god’s work.

 

dale j rappaneau jr is an American poet living in Bowdoinham, Maine, where he is pursuing a degree in creative writing from the University of Maine at Farmington. He is the forthcoming co-editor of The Sandy River Review, and with graduation on the horizon he has been anxiously shopping around for MFA programs.