The FavoredThe Favored

By David Rivard

(posted Wednesday, Aug. 6)

To hear the poet read "The Favored," click here.

In the dream that repeats as certain
as dusk you walk with me
again as it happens strolling by

yards of quiet or clamoring families.
Affable street, & nothing accidental
here, so it makes sense

I like the people we pass by thinking
the sunglasses I wear
mean me a blind man.

Always you grip a white second-hand paperback.
I can almost smell the spine's
cracked glue as you read

aloud. Pulp--
narrated by a foolish minor princeling
or gypsy tinker, his eyes aquamarine,

squinting through venetian shades into
the bedroom of a scullery maid/dominatrix/police detective
who offers to straddle

the plantation master/diplomat/dope dealer's head
as he lies there on the floor,
the enticements of her taffeta, spandex, musk,

and blondness
quite clear, & if he submits--one
can only hope--he will, later, pray

to be part of the various
silver-green mosses & tendrils hanging from branches
over-hanging a river. In the dream we seem

the same man & woman who
each day step-out onto our porch.
Ourselves. Meat & potato-eaters,

but favored. We are ordinary,
glad
someone dares to tell our story.

PRINTE-MAILRECOMMEND...RSS

FacebookMySpace Mixx Digg Reddit del.icio.us Furl Ma.gnolia SphereStumbleUponCLOSE

SPONSORED CONTENT

• "Morphine"
  A weekly poem, read by the author.
  Mira Rosenthal | Dec. 15, 2009
• The Slate Poetry Podcast
  Your favorite poets read their work to you.
  Dec. 15, 2009
• "Dead Mother"
  A weekly poem, read by the author.
  Henri Cole | Dec. 8, 2009
• Search for more Poems articles
• Subscribe to the Poems RSS feed
• View our complete Poems archive