It’s 1:07 a.m. where is your daughter?
Brittani Mae is having her hair done
by Christian who also has frosted tips
& last month’s overdue rent & a mother
in Illinois who hates the big city scene
but the big city scene is a basement
in an anytime anytown with lights, camera, action!
& a box of condoms deep enough to feed a, well,
we don’t use condoms here anymore
because they kill the vibe & we need
to keep our customers happy.

Isn’t youth happy? Youth is scratch-proof,
incombustible: Youth is the edging of orange,
the lock of ghosts and goblins behind you
as you fly over crunching ice in knee-high
boots and thigh-tight leathers, stilettos
and spiderling lashes catching feathery snow.

Youth is a thousand women swallowing
inhibition for the camera
because that’s where they belong,
because you can’t buy a D-cup and let it go to waste.

Youth is beauty, silly girl.
You can’t run away from it.