Cheryl Rice

Elvis Corrected

I dreamed of Elvis again the other night;
not the broad Vegas pharaoh of his last days,
hoisting himself around the stage
by a belt big as a silver corral,
but a small Zen Elvis,
slender and fit,
Tupelo blue jumpsuit,
fisherman sandals instead of boots.
Purported to be a latter image,
I knew the narrator was wrong,
that this had to be around
A Change of Habit, before
ascension from the peacock's ashes
in '68, out of a black leather egg
into multiplicity.
I knew the sideburns were too close,
his posture too tame
for anything later than
'65.

 

Long Islander by birth, Cheryl A. Rice has called New York’s Hudson Valley home for over 35 years.  A featured reader at open mics from Albany to Middletown, she is founder/host of the now defunct Sylvia Plath Bake-Off. Her poetry blog, Flying Monkey Productions, is at http://flyingmonkeyprods.blogspot.com/.