Down
Down
Down
Deep into the darkness we go
Depths uncharted but by one
Death discharged into the youngest one
Down
Into the valleys we praise the one light
Down
Into the dungeons we sing our names
The last trinket of humanity remains
In souls that were pure and sane
Down
We become human no more
The key to our paradise is just a door
For lust to be ejected and erected
Down
Go our heads, hands, and feet
Offset by the blood and tears going up
On and on go turned on males
But down goes our daughters
Down to our wives
Down to mothers

Down goes their cry of agony tonight

Pour a little oil
The pour a lot
The anguish of their tears matters not
Do it for the culture
Do it for the vultures
The predators on back pages
And the scum of Hollywood stages
Chain them up, beat them down
Parade them in front of the media moguls
Nobody ever asks about sudden interruptions
Or slanted eyes
Painted to be portraits of innocence and care
Wages might be the thing least fair
In the face of the abuse, forced to refute
It’s a fair ride they bought too many tickets for
Once you step in, nobody’s opening the door
It’s the women, it’s the children
Inside the buildings, outside on set

There’s poison in our icons they don’t regret

For my sister
Who I will not name
Whosoever knows this darling beauty
Knows she needs not the identification of man
To be
For our names are simply markers
Of one miniature trait of identity
And hers spans the infinite depths
Relegating everything I think about her
To one, six letter word is folly and crude
She is a leader, now rather than soon
But I would be remiss if I forget her victimhood
How she too suffered inscrutable pain
Of being exposed at such a young age
Not of her own fault, nor of her own will
It amazes me still how some can will action
In a time when the masses only react
I wish I had acted
But I’m not sure I’d be writing this to you

© Devereaux Frazier

Devereaux Frazier is a teen poet and writer from Baltimore, Maryland. He’s been published twelve times on SpillWords, with “Pleadings Against The Preposterous” being nominated for Publication Of the Month of May. He’s also been published five times on TeenInk, with “Less Than Human” being published in the October 2016 edition of their magazine. He placed second in Blood Into Ink’s January #MeToo writing contest. Literary Arts Review has published three of his poems as well. In addition to being a guest barista for Go Dog Go Cafe and member of The Writing Hour, he runs his own poetry blog, which was voted best of 2017 by Kendall Person of The Neighborhood.

Snapchat and Instagram: @devverroh
Blog: marylandpoetblog.wordpress.com