J.D. Isip

One More Moloch

Allen, Texas 2023

Favorite of the crusaders
handing out fetus erasers
“It’s the actual size” they say,
and the quad is littered with
discarded erasure babies.

One good girl, good Catholic
communion dress girl, says,
“Mama, the poor babies!”
lifts and cradles them,
gives them each a name.
 
Mama’s gonna buy you,
little chiquita, mijita, “Baby,”
she says, “I’m gonna take you
to the outlets, to buy you
something, mi hija, besito.”
 
An appetite for children,
and bullet teeth, he’s the one
she knew would take her,
el cucuy Mama called him,
he eats while we sleep.

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J.D. Isip’s full-length poetry collections include Kissing the Wound (Moon Tide Press, 2023) and Pocketing Feathers (Sadie Girl Press, 2015). His third collection, tentatively titled I Wasn’t Finished, will be released by Moon Tide Press at the end of 2024 or early 2025. J.D. teaches at Collin College in Plano, Texas, where he lives with his dogs, Ivy and Bucky.