Poetry Corner: 33 1/3
by Jim Farfaglia
33 1/3
Today’s digital music holds nothing
compared to how I once held
those timeless vinyl discs,
each with a tiny hole that fit them
so neatly atop my turntable
where they slowly ran in circles
and where I gently set upon them
a diamond needle
and listened
as my favorite tunes
rose from those grooves,
each song just about three minutes long –
long enough to learn about life
or hell raisin’
or how to mend a broken heart.
And the records I loved over and over?
They wound up with crackles and skips
that became a part of those songs,
flaws weaving into each story
like my mishaps wove into mine.
And whenever life got boring
I could flip them upside down
and try out side B,
inviting those songs into the circle of my life,
letting them revolve around my world
thirty three and a third times
per minute.
