WHEN I DIE I WANT TO BE A CAPITAL "S" SAINT

by Elise Kazanjian

just like Carlo Acutis, the first millennial

saint, appointed by Pope Leo XIV.

There may be a problem. He was

fifteen. I’m 90. One of the last saintly

nonagenarians was St. Anthony 

The Great, 3rd century.

 

Rev. Anthony Gerber in St. Louis

explains there are capital ‘S’ saints 

and lowercase ‘s’ saints in heaven. 

Carlo is a capital ‘S’ 

pronounced infallibly

in heaven by the Catholic Church. 

 

Until my demise I hope to

follow Carlo’s example to insure I

too not only get into heaven, but am a 

big ‘S’ saint. And it will be taxing—

he observed a no-nonsense daily

life, a hard act to follow.

 

Carlo Attended Daily Mass—

I confess I go to the Armenian Church 

mostly on high holidays

like Easter to enjoy

sumptuous delights, ie,

Khourabia, a cookie that melts

in my mouth.   

 

Carlo Converted His peers/friends—

Most of my peers/friends 

seem happy in what they believe, 

and do not believe.

I would be remiss trying to change

them, and probably would acquire

a guilt complex which I don’t need.

 

Carlo Launched a Website Cataloguing Miracles—

I have trouble just with basic computer knowledge 

let alone miracles. I break out in a sweat 

when texting, sending photos, 

or emailing big corporations 

slamming them for their slimy

practices in charging outrageous fees.

Carlo Is Known as “God’s Influencer”—

Frankly, I would prefer 

being a Social Media Influencer 

like Masoom Minawalu

who promotes women’s rights, 

and empowers people of India 

to succeed in their individual endeavors.

 

Carlo’s Body Rests In A Glass Fronted Tomb—

The faithful come to pay their respects to this

young saint. I assume I have another ten years.

At 100, my body will not be that great

to look at. I will choose another burial

practice. Meanwhile, I’ll say a prayer to Carlo,

and hope that someday I can join him as a big ‘S’ saint.

A San Francisco poet, Elise Kazanjian's work has appeared in the 2025 Marin Poetry Center Anthology, Season Lightly With Salt, Our California, Vistas & Byways, the San Francisco Chronicle, among others. She has worked at Sunset Magazine, as Foreign Editor, CCTV, Beijing, China, and as a San Francisco pawnbroker.

THE GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH

a mirror poem

by Elise Kazanjian

What were we all thinking?

An abandoned fishing boat  toothbrushes

six tons of gill nets   toys   lawn chairs   plastic

containers   a three and a half ton  mysterious object twenty

feet wide six feet high   shoes    millions miniscule plastic waste bits    trawling

booms   plastic rods  tires   huge foam buoys  stewing in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch three 

times the size of France  growing every day    in 2009 the non-profit Ocean Voyages

Institute’s 132-foot sailing cargo ship begins removing plastics from the ocean    

many of us move mouths    jaw about oceans     threatened oceans that give

life to all creatures    oceans once polluted can not be salvaged   

What were we all thinking?

 

What are we all thinking?

The oceans once polluted can not be salvaged      so many creatures

humans    given life    many of   us move mouths        jaw about oceans     threatened    

in 2009 the  non-profit Ocean Voyages Institute’s132-foot sailing cargo ship

begins removing plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch three times

the size of France   growing every day   millions miniscule plastic waste bits     trawling

booms   plastic rods    tires   marine debris  stewing with lawn chairs    

plastic containers   a three and a half ton mysterious object twenty

feet wide six feet high    shoes   toothbrushes    six tons

of gill nets    toys   an abandoned fishing boat  

What were we all thinking?

Elise Kazanjian’s poems have appeared in Fog & Light: San Francisco Seen Through the Eyes of the Poets Who Live Here 2021; the Marin Poetry Center Anthology 2022, and others. She was Foreign Editor, CCTV, Beijing; has been a San Francisco pawnbroker; and is Co-Judge, Prose Poem, Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition.