Rock Records
I'm selling my old rock records,
the reggae and the Dead,
the Beatles and bands
no one heard after the Amazing
Kathy Dalton became less so
and Airto—busted for possession,
his album's face behind ten fingers
blacked with stationhouse ink—
deported. A Stone retired,
Mick past fifty, Van Morrison—
composer of the world's best
Celtic fuck music—gone spiritual,
while "Peaceful Easy Feeling"
sells Prozac, and the trippy
paisley vinyl of Dave Mason's
"Alone Together," Big Brother's
funky R. Crumb cover (fat nipply Janis
dragging that ball and chain) are quaint
collectibles, like Fiestaware or bottles
from defunct breweries; useful things
no one uses anymore, worth money.
Copyright Credit: Joyce Peseroff, "Rock Records" from Mortal Education. Copyright © 2000 by Joyce Peseroff. Reprinted by permission of Carnegie Mellon University Press.
Source: Mortal Education (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2000)