Sickness and the Knife

 I’ve seen kids endure
Sickness and the knife,
Drugs and monsters, more “mature”

Lockdowns high on vapor,
With extended definitions of real life…
I’ve seen kids endure.

Voices crying insecure
Enclosed like wildlife
Drugs and monsters, more “mature”

I no longer count contours
Of the half-life
I’ve seen kids endure.

If apathy can have a cure,
A pause, hyperbole or hyphen –
Are Drugs and monsters, more “mature”?

They are old enough for fear
Not guns or wild lives,
I’ve seen kids endure
Drugs and monsters, more “mature”

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 © Ben Ditmars 2018