TRAVESTIES

by R V Raiment (written 40+ years ago).

A toddler

in a two-piece swimsuit

makes private

parts she does not know the name of,

is labelled of a sex

which does not own her

yet.

Confused signals – sex and child

concept as would be reviled

if devised by any other

than doting dad or doting mother.

Teenager gift-wrapped

in tight-fitting clothes

designedly alluring

more than naked flesh –

children’s bodies,

skinned in figure-hugging pants

signal sex

but seek romance.

Youths smoke

and smirk,

mouths ape the adult leer

and adult appetites –

sex, and fags and beer –

shape childish expectation,

murder childhood.