Elegy in 4/4

Neil Young once sang

it's better to burn out

than to fade away     which was

also    coincidentally

quoted at the end of Kurt Cobain’s

suicide note

we're always fixated     on youth

aren't we?

better to be famous when

old men can     sexualize // monetize you

when you

look taut in bikinis and heels

as saliva drips on

the magazine spread

your legs

Christina Aguilera once sang

you gotta rub me the right way

as a teen     and even as a teen I

knew that was super creepy

but that’s still played

on the radio     and we all

listen to it     bob our heads

sing along like

whatever

have you ever thought that     when Britney

the Spears one     went batshit

and shaved her head

maybe that was the first thing

she could do

for herself

*Published in Kissing Dynamite Issue 13