Royalty by Joseph Hargraves

The quacking bum has found a partner
in the obese woman who’s taken off her
Mercedes Benz T-shirt. They’re kissing
smack in the center of the fountain.
The sun reflects the pool:
for a moment- they are beautiful.
The lunch-break secretaries in sneakers
are frightened by the lovers’ exalted state,
and return to high-rise cubicles.
But the couple in the fountain
are so blessed that even prick cop
Sanchez doesn't write them tickets.
Instead he's lighting a cigarette
for a blonde face-lift in 90 degree
heat and leather pants.
A naked girl with filthy feet
is laughing. Another little girl
kisses her on her left nipple
and strokes Sappho's hair.
A tattooed drunk yells to the crowd:
"My wife is royalty!"
He is embracing a grey haired
woman who is, despite the odds,
statuesque and regal. They
know they are Royalty.
Holding hands, they laugh
and stagger to an ivy bower.
After a luxurious fuck,
they fall asleep, oblivious
to us anti-royalists.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is the kind of poem that makes me wonder if the poet is an addled form of divinity perceiving surroundings; or, if he just notices the divinity that most of us over-look: and that the drunks, whores, and junkies may be hidden saints.

Not a poet; a theologian.

Anonymous said...

Nikki says,

More like The Goddess in everyone. Not the sexless, violent Yahweh, but the self-affirming, life-affirming, lusty Divine Virgin/Mother/Crone who says, "Use it, that's what it's there for."

"Smells like a Rose" said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
"Smells like a Rose" said...

I see this as an observation of sexual innocence in an anarchic fantasy-- A type of situation that breaks the boundaries we have created out of fear for what life lust lends.

Anonymous said...

happiness is filthy feet

Tim Ireland said...

Walt Whitman grunge and mighty grand at it: sloppy, gritty, clean.

Karen said...

I admire your ability to find beauty in all humans and situations.

Andrea said...

I'm excited by this poet's ability to create such a full and living scene with such an economy of words.

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