What Rough Beast | Poem for November 28, 2019

Ashley Elizabeth
Dear Black mothers whose children die by white hand

is it hard to serve
a god
who takes your one and only son?

You are not Mary
should not be expected to be okay
with losing a piece of you

with your son as the martyr
unjustly killed
in front of you,

watching.

At least Mary knew
what was coming.

Ashley Elizabeth is the author of the microchap letters from an old mistress (Damaged Goods Press, 2019). Her work has appeared in Bonnie’s Crew, yell/shout/scream, and Zoetic Press, among other journals. Elizabeth is an assistant editor at Sundress Publications; she teaches; habitually posts on Twitter and Instagram (@ae_thepoet); watches dog videos.

SUBMIT to What Rough Beast via our SUBMITTABLE site.

If you enjoyed today’s poem and you value What Rough Beast, consider making a donation to Indolent Books, a nonprofit poetry press.