The album I am currently listening to
is made up of recordings
from one of your favorite artists
from before you were born
but released only recently.
It isn’t bad.
I think you’d like it
if you still played LPs,
if you still listened to music.

I would play it for you,
were we still speaking.

I wish we were still speaking
and I wish you still listened to music
the way you used to.
I wish your LPs hadn’t been dispersed
between all your brothers and sisters
and one or two that I still have in my collection
and will never be rid of.
I wish you’d come here
to my lousy neighborhood
to sit on my cluttered floor
while I place the platter on the spindle
so you could explain to me
what there is to like about this album
that you never got to hear
because I never really understood this guy.

He was always more your kind of groove
than mine.
I wish you could tell me
why I’m supposed to enjoy this new album.
Oh, it’s not bad.
I just wish you were here.