Poem: I Don't Want Raphael's Angel

Mark Tulin is a baseball fan from Philadelphia, PA. He has four books of poetry and one short story collection, available on Amazon.

More Earthy, Less Ethereal

Angels are created in heaven but rendered by the minds of artists and poets. My version of an angel reflects my Philly background and gritty nature. I prefer my angels earthy with more realistic expectations, instead of the ideal versions that Raphael and Michelangelo have created in their art. I want my angel accessible instead of ethereal. In the poem, I Don't Want Raphael's Angel, I say goodbye to perfection and hello to flaws and impurity.

I Don't Want Raphael's Angel by Mark Tulin

I don’t want my angel

soft and demure

with translucent wings or a halo.

I don’t want her riding bareback like Lady Godiva

or as sophisticated as Lady Chatterley.

I want her to be excited to see me

with outstretched arms and a bottle of beer,

plain and dowdy, unfettered and free

with rollers in her untamed hair.

I want her to be funny and profane,

a well-endowed, zaftig angel

wearing nothing but a grin

and a closeout pair of fur-lined slippers

from Marshalls or Filene’s Basement.

I want my angel to be riding

a two-door Ford Pinto

with a pack of smokes on the dash,

a pipe with hash under the seat,

barely making it up the hill

in a cough and sputter.

I don’t want Raphael’s angel

or a Michelangelo

with a surreal, sublime pallor.

I don’t want society’s perfect seraphim,

a holy protector and intercessor,

but a cherub who’s not afraid to break rules,

now and then.

© 2020 Mark Tulin