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