Burnt Sacrifice by James B. Nicola

A term used figuratively at first
     and coined becomes in time an apt description
You learn this when you listen to The Dead

What did they do with the carcass
     once it had burned for days
     in sacrifice to Yahweh or Jehovah
or of the people
     burning that long decade
     in sacrifice to the Third Reich
or of native brothers and sisters
     burning for a century of gold
     in sacrifice to the Greater Glory of Spain
or of my own brothers and sisters
     still burning to the core NOT BREATHING (hear them: “I can’t breathe”)
     hung up on display for half a millennium
     in sacrifice to Making Money in America
Listen to The Dead and you will know

Ancient Palestine
     I have begun to realize
must have held a public barbecue
and fed the hungry poor of Israel
with the inferior flesh of the ram or ox or steer
like alms to honor Yahweh or Jehovah
But there the analogy ends at least for me
for the poor have feasted and the poor feast yet
on meals other than semi-sapid mammals
both quadripeds and bipeds on the grill
O listen to The Dead please my friend

Still
     notwithstanding that the name of Whom To Propitiate
     has changed over millennia till today
Holocaust
seems an accurate description

And what else can a poet do but grab the aptest word
     and what else should a poet do but share it now with you
For if In the beginning was in fine in fact the word
     a right word might invoke a right reaction
     which might in turn make for a good beginning

I say this with all confidence and hope
     knowing full well you may call me fool
But now you know that I at least have learned
     to listen to The Dead