RECORD COLLECTION

In our living room,

There was a record cabinet that was 6 feet long and quite deep.

My dad put dividers in it for his LPs.

It was filled with records.

Our “stereo”,

A turntable, amplifier, cassette player

And fancily enough — a reel to reel tape deck,

On racked shelving my dad built.

We would listen to Peter, Paul and Mary,

The Kingston Trio,

And later, The Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel.

Music was always in our house.

Sometimes we’d go up to the attic and dress up in old clothes,

And swords that were very old that came from my mom’s family.

Eventually,

Someone put on Don MacLean’s, Miss American Pie

“The day the music died”

I learned all the lyrics and would sing it religiously,

Every time it played.

Hoping that day would never come.