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| “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” by Michael D’Antuono |
Priests’ upward gazes to God
go also downward to where
wild male animals loiter,
battling to escape,
to do what God orders.
But those battles seen or unseen,
become mere memories for those,
confessed to but not confessing,
elevated to the bishopric.
Their own wild animals’ flights
are proven when bishops
replace pants with gowns.
So too cardinals and popes,
secure, satisfied neuters
ignoring young priests
battling anew
and children sacrificed
on celibacy’s stained altar.
Jack Belck is a retired university publications editor.