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.