Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Cataclysmic Catechism

The Pope is putting
the 'mobile in gear

in preparation
for the United States leg
of his world tour.

He will arrive
in Washington, D.C.

on September 23.

A school in a poor East Harlem neighborhood
is planting chrysanthemums

to liven up
barren flowerbeds

and show they're taking care
of their community.

Gift shops

are stocking up
on equal parts

sincere and heretical
Pope plushie dolls.

And Republican members of Congress
running for president in 2016

are agonizing over
which level of forgiveness

will keep them from
alienating their base

(and he's now
more pro-choice

or at least

more pro-forgiving of the
"sin of abortion"

than they are).

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.