Rêve

dreamt i had the Obamas over for dinner last night.

Michelle was priggish and cold.

Barack took off his coat and rolled up his sleeves

and sat down on my couch.

He leaned in when I talked to him.

i told him that people were confused.

i said that people thought He was "the answer,"

but this was wrong.

He was only supposed to set "the answer" in motion;

he was the conduit through which "the answer" would come.
This is why the people are angry,
and feel they have been betrayed.

He agreed whole-heartedly, clapping his hands.

Kevin said I was being rude.

Michelle smoothed her skirt and looked embarrassed.

Barack made himself a turkey sandwich
and explained how this was true.

His daughters hunted Easter eggs in the backyard.

It occurred to me,
watching him make his sandwich in my kitchen,
that i couldn't remember his middle name.

i began to fret over it, in case one of the other guests should ask me.

i turned to face the guests mingling through my house.
i meant to find Kevin, to ask him if he knew Barack's middle name.

But my eyes locked with Theda Bara's.

"Hussein" she mouthed at me, from across the crowded room.

Funny, 

that i should remember thinking in my dream 

that i didn't know, 

then supplying myself with the answer after all.