The Gospel According to Matthew

Faced with the title Poems & Prayers, an innocent reader might well think back to the Morning Homilies of Pope Francis. Sure, the late Pontiff never brought down the house in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Nor was he—in public, at least—to be seen playing the bongos in the nude. But he might easily have begun one of his soulful petitions, “What do I forgive and where’s the buck stop here?,” even if less likely to continue, “Been forty-eight days since I had a beer.”