Jerry hunts down
Chicago-area tunes from 50 years ago,
wants every single released
on the Destination label.  

Jeff loves records too,
but he buys glass—
Depression-era glass,
Rob and Laura Petrie’s living room glass,
cranberry glass. The house

is breakable. They know
they must cut back. Jerry misses
clean surfaces. Jeff dreams
of a bulldozer shoving it all
out the door. Collecting,

a fever lasting for decades,
a cold that never lets go. Sometimes
they’re afraid to have people over.
Stuff,

even fun stuff, is like a robber
who takes your space—
you never get it back.
He breaks in.
You pour him a beer. 

Kenneth Pobo has a new book forthcoming from Blue Light Press called Bend Of Quiet. His work can be read at: Eclectica, Floating Bridge, Mudfish, Broadkill Review, San Pedro River Review, and elsewhere.