He was a little boy

         who wanted to

                  save the world.

 

He heard the stories

         in Sunday school

                  of Jesus –

 

all the stories about

         all those poor –

                  the Sermon

 

on the Mount and the

         one on the plain

                  just the same

 

and Matthew 25. He

         watched Superman

                  in black

 

and white and he

         jumped off the

                  couch

 

onto the floor with

        towel cape flying

                  behind.

 

He ran down the

         walkway onto

                  the sidewalk,

 

in front of the house.

         Today, sixty-years

                  later,

 

he knows Superman

         can’t penetrate

                  Kryptonite,

 

but he still remembers

         the stories of Jesus

                  as he gets

 

ready to send a letter

         to the Governor

                  to find

 

a way to save the

         pensions of the

                  retirees of

 

the bankrupt city of

         Detroit, which isn’t

                  the world

 

but it is Detroit,

         and that’s enough

                 for now.

But it could

be the world —

one city

at a time.