Ba'al, by Lorette C. Luzajic

Saturn Devouring His Children, by Francisco Goya (Spain). 1820.

Ba’al

Therefore, behold, the days are coming, 
declares the LORD, 
when this place will be called
the Valley of Slaughter…

What about now,
this bright light born to darkness
dead in the alley,
for the sins of his father?
This promise,
this wide eyed marvel of a child,
did anybody love him?
An imaginative boy, someone 
said, just on his
way to play basketball.
The sacrifice of Isaac 
without the happy ending.
Mama in her new car, 
before he’s even buried.
Dad’s face, as hard and mean a face as
there has ever been.

What about now? Does 
Tyshawn matter?

And where to, from here?
The black bodies are piling up,
burnt sacrifices 
on the altar of our
microaggressions.

Lorette C. Luzajic

This poem was first published in the author's ekphrastic poetry collection, Aspartame.

Lorette C. Luzajic is the founding editor of The Ekphrastic Review. She is a Toronto, Canada based visual artist who shows regularly at home and further afield. Visit her at www.mixedupmedia.ca.