24

so it's not loaded stadiums or ballparks
and we're not kids on swingsets on the blacktop
and i thought at fifteen that i'd have it down by sixteen
and twenty-four keeps breathing in my face
like a mad whore
and twenty-four keeps pounding at my door
like a friend you don't want to see
oldness comes with a smile
to every love given child
oldness comes to rile
the youth who dream suicide