~ Delta Poetry Review ~

The Evangelist

— for Elvis Presley, performing “Unchained Melody” (1977) two months before his death

When he was a boy in Tupelo he’d go outside
if the moon was full—just a lonely white disc
in the sky—and he’d sing to his twin brother
who had died at birth. His mama told him to do that,
and so he did.

And he kept trying, his whole life, to do all the right things,
to make everybody happy—even God—
and maybe he did that too.

Because it’s hard not to imagine that God doesn’t weep
every time you hear him sing, even though he’s out of breath
and gleaming sweat, and someone has to hold his microphone
for him. There’s just something holy in his voice.

It’s the only way to say it.

                                             Or it’s something lonely.
A river widening and widening until it becomes the sea.
Or maybe it’s something sweet: something that says
to wait for him, because he’s finally coming home.


David Armand is an assistant professor of creative writing at Southeastern Louisiana University. In 2010, he won the George Garrett Fiction Prize for his first novel, The Pugilist’s Wife, which was published by Texas Review Press. He has since published two more novels, two collections of poetry, and a memoir, with a seventh book, The Lord’s Acre, forthcoming this fall from Texas Review Press. He is currently working on a collection of essays.

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