“Listening to Springsteen” by Michael P. Hill

Listening to Springsteen

In the last light of evening
I watch the dark water
of The River roll past
and then back around again

before lowering the thin straw
of the stylus to drink
from its glistening surface.
Sound spilling from the speakers,

the swirling current sweeps me up,
sailing me from The Ties That Bind
to Hungry Heart, past Point Blank,
and clear to Wreck on the Highway

before plunging me into silence,
the night pooling up around me
as the dark disc of a waxing moon
slips into a papery sleeve of cloud.

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When Michael P. Hill was 13, his cousin recorded AC/DC's For Those About to Rock and Oh No! It’s Devo on either side of a TDK-D90 audio cassette for him, sparking a lifelong obsession with music that has driven Michael to procure thousands of albums, attend hundreds of concerts, and perform – on guitar – with everyone from John Zorn to Slobberbone. Also the author of two chapbooks of Poetry, Not Just Passing Through (Main Street Rag Publishing, 2022) and Junk Drawer (Kelsay Books, 2021), Michael grew up in Western Wisconsin and currently lives in Northern Colorado. More at michaelphill.org.