Battlefields, Called My Heart
written by: Devereaux Frazier
@marylandpoet
The more I begin to love myself
It seems the world digs in deeper
The fuckening, you could call it
When everything’s going your way
And you just know you’re overdue
Your sky is blue, but mine is charcoal black
With torpedoes reigning down on children
Hellfire never ceases, it mars my land
And I’d surely go to Mars if I could
But I’m hardly qualified to be Elon Musk
Silver couldn’t buy my peace, and paychecks
Disappear in the dust as water on my tongue
In the desert everything is a mirage
Until I pull the jagged metal from my cranium
And realize I’m still alive
My lungs are radioactive chambers of lust
Each kicking and fighting for drops of oxygen
One day there won’t be enough to feed both
Should a parent ever have to bury a child
Aren’t I glad I have none of my own
So consumed with surviving I forget to love
People try to love me back, but it’s hopeless
I can’t see past the next breath, next heave
Never mind the next hundred years
Can your kids buy me another shot at life?
And I’d promise you anything to get it
But I’m just a sad semblance of unified atoms
It would be a wasted gift, pearls before swine
I’ve died in every other life
I’ll die again this time
His work is regularly featured on SpillWords.com, where he was nominated for the May Publication of the Month in 2017. You can also find him on Literary Arts Review and Teen Ink, the latter of which published him in their monthly magazine in 2016.
When he’s not working as an Active Seller at IKEA Baltimore, Devereaux can be found reading or interacting with readers on his various platforms, mainly WordPress and Instagram. Reaching new readers and connecting with poets and writers across the web is one of the reasons why he writes. There’s no use in writing if it can’t be shared to uplift and inspire.
- Galaxies - February 25, 2021
- Battlefields, Called My Heart - May 6, 2020
- Where Are You, Happiness? - December 2, 2019
