Shortlist Writ

Marie Reine du Monde after A.M. Klein, or, Notes on Ecclesia Triumphans by a Wandering Jew on a Bixi

Graphic Alex Manley

O San Pietronino,
Maderno minuscule,

Apotheosis of Ecclesia Francophans—farcical
Finial Français in the quartier Anglophonic,

Your belittled baldacchino bravely framing
Counterpoint Catholique to not ninety-two

But resolution singulier—
Henglish hérétique, how

Your glory architravic is reduced
To pedimented pejorative: trap touristique.

Relic heart of the centre-ville
Exsanguinated by true habitant house of worship:

Centre Bell, whose crown of jerseys apostolic
Inspires beatitude beyond Bernini bronze compare

Alas! Your nave is no center-ice
Chère Cathédrale,

Forever forced to face your cruciform
Quotation with PVenmity. Quel ennui

Pei’s pared down Place paraphrasic must present
After all these years!