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Bishop John-David Schofield, erstwhile Bishop of San Joaquin,
engineered a reputed transfer of his diocese from The Episcopal
Church to the province of the Southern Cone this past weekend. If The
Episcopal Church has been oblivious to the ongoing insurrection by its
“orthodox” minority, it can ignore the revolution no longer.
Before going to bed
last night, I wrote the line “There once was a bishop of Fresno,” Fresno
being the see city where San Joaquin held its diocesan convention. I
swear that, sometime during the night, I thought up a good rhyme for
“Fresno,” but, for the life of me, I could not remember it this morning.
Of course, for a limerick, I needed two rhymes for “Fresno,” so
it may have been inevitable that I would discard the first draft of a
beginning for this poem.
“Bish” may not be a
common term for a bishop, but, although it’s not in my dictionary, I
have heard other people use it, so I didn’t feel especially guilty about
using it myself.
This may not be the
perfect limerick, at least as far as meter is concerned. I have mixed
feelings about the enjambment of “tally” and “Its,” though I think this
really is OK. The last line was originally “And cause right-wing
schismatics to rally.” This was a line that was easily misread. A
friend, upon reading the poem, instantly suggested the present line,
which is much better.
I came upon
something I wanted to add to my commentary and, rather than edit
what I wrote earlier, I thought I would simply add this addendum.
I am currently
reading Kate Gallison’s mystery
Bury the Bishop. On page 119, Detective David Dogg is
speculating about the death of the Bishop of New Jersey, who is
referred to as “the bish.” I guess my poem is not breaking any
linguistic ground here.
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