The Shoes of the Fisherman
are missing the third shoe.
It is easy enough for a pope
to pledge the Church's wealth
to alleviate world hunger,
just as it was easy enough
for a president to announce
the closing of Gitmo.
As the film's Chinese leader says,
Words are cheap.
What I want to know is,
what happened next?
The question is not whether
but how.
Did Anthony Quinn
die of mysterious causes?
Did they crank up
the other Holy See
at Avignon?
Can a pope be impeached
or tried on trumped-up charges
of choirboy abuse?
But why indulge
in fruitless speculation?
Let's dissolve the government
and hand the world's problems over
to Hollywood.
Esther Greenleaf Murer's poetry has most recently appeared in Lyre Lyre, Cartographie Curieux, Infinity's Kitchen, and The Centrifugal Eye. She published her first collection, Unglobed Fruit, in 2011.
_____________________________________________________