Teen Poets -- LAPD Investigates Death Threat Over Rape Poem

Two up-and-coming poets who once opened for John Legend are the targets of death and rape threats ... and the LAPD is on the hunt for the bad guys.

Belissa Escobedo and Rhiannon McGavin, 16 and 17, performed their poem, "Rape Joke," at the Brave New Voices poetry slam competition in July 2014 -- which was then posted to YouTube and viewed more than 400,000 times.

Apparently it didn't sit well with everyone. Someone has threatened to "stab the fat one in the nose straight up to the brain, effectively leaving her in a state where all she can do is feel pain, but I won't kill her just yet."

Another threat promises to "anally rape the blond one with a rusty-nailed plank, tie her to a f***ing chair ..."

The threats were posted on the YouTube page and that was enough for the LAPD to get a search warrant.

Cops have not found the people who posted the threats ... at least not yet. But the girls are standing firm ... they will continue to perform poems in public and the videos will stay on YouTube.