(no subject)

[arachne8x]

Adult

is a word that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth
like the latex glove stuck in my mouth
by a well meaning dentist.

I am all of twenty two years old.
Old enough to drive and smoke and drink,
Old enough to gamble, and to be held accountable for my actions.
And if the world I lived in wasn't peniscentric,
Old enough to be drafted to die for my country.

In fact the only thing I'm not old enough to do
is to become the President of the United States,
a sucker job I never aspired to anyway.

And now that I have all these privileges,
I wish I had followed Peter Pan,
to Never Never Land.

For now I'm at the age where if you're not good at art,
you only get to paint walls or your face.

Getting barbeque sauce all over my face and hands
is no longer charming.

My parents will never again take a picture of me
naked in front of the Christmas tree,
or in the bathtub
to put in the family photo album.

For I am old enough to be ashamed of my body.

I don't get recess anymore,
no one will ever think making mud pies is still a good use of my time,
and if I sing gaily along to a song
shouting the wrong lyrics,
my prize will be embarrassment.

The truth is the only way I will get to play
again, is to have children of my own,
because adults have to grow up.

And so sometimes I long for the days
when a tree became a fort,
when entertainment was free
and a party meant balloons, cake and jumping up and down to music,
not intoxication and pickup lines.

So maybe tonight,
when all the grownups of the world
have retired,
I'll sneak out and walk barefoot in the grass
needling its way through my toes
and go play with my imaginary friends
because they never grew up.