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’ve 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
by this old guy.
Oh, it’s not bad.
I just wish you were here.