Read Poem: THE DIRECT VELVET ROUTE by Elizabeth Marino

GENRE:
Social Engagement/Intersectional Feminism

THE DIRECT VELVET ROUTE

Troops know that the truest /
way to an enemy’s anguish /
is through the direct velvet route /
of vagina, mouth, or anus/
of his wife or young daughter,/
preferably in front of him./
It a time-tested war crime, that/
struggles to be named as such.//

Here at home, the common/
“I want some of that”/
muttered from a park bench,/
or as he gets off a public bus/
following a young girl./
Studies report a child-woman’s /
appeal peaks at age 13./
My mother once drove over/
a curb as a man leached after/
a neighbor’s 12-year-old daughter
/entering a grocery store./
Thick blackgirl thighs and woman hips./ She looks so grown, she /
must be grown. What child?/
“I want some of this.”//

As pirates cruise the West Coast of/ Africa, and desperate parents/
take small sums to ensure…