Self-Portrait as Abraham and Isaac

M.J. Young

I. Father

through that night you couldn’t have slept
your son nothing more under God’s eyes

than a burnt offering. with him laying beside you—
who did you turn to? awake, did you count his breaths?

II. Son

before I will lie on the altar
listen to me— I am afraid.

you will bind me stretched to the stone
like any dead bird pressed to the grain—

I will beg My Father! 
and you will believe I am speaking to you.

M.J. Young is a writer and MFA student at Florida International University, where he is a graduate instructor and the Poetry Editor of Gulf Stream Magazine. His poetry can be found or is forthcoming in Ninth Letter, phoebe, Vagabond City Lit, and elsewhere. In his free time he enjoys listening to Philip Glass and exploring bookstores.