Track 3: Chrysalis of Time by Vivi Delsole
I think if Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin had a kid,
there would be you and me, Benjamin, and Mark B.
But if that teenager two rows back
waxing lyrical on loneliness at age 14
instead of dallying on TikTok
makes that connection for you,
then heck yeah, I can see it too,
even with progressive specs
failing 300 miles away.
Because I don’t need to see
to see loneliness at any age.
I see it my old pink room
with that cheesy rack system
that I bought and assembled on my own
after working late at the record store
where I met Mark B., my little older, lonely friend
who had a fire escape instead of a phone.
We immersed ourselves in that Pluto in Leo sect,
those mighty god-friends to Generation Jones
like Hendrix, CSN, and Yes
among my giggles, his Father Guido,
and heavy, white sinsemilla clouds.
He once saw the two of us in flashes as he slept,
siblings in a barn, killed in Hungary during The Siege.
That’s why we were so close, he said.
He teaches history now to 7th graders
and owns an iPhone. I called him one winter night
out of the blue with a smoky head.
He into a Rolling Rock or four
put us right back then 40 years ago.
My voice so high like a young girl, a little older than
that teenager a few rows back.
Mark B. marked the date for posterity’s sake--
a reminder that life is a long song.
So, maybe you should give Benjamin a call.
Vivi Delsole is an emerging poet and seasoned technical writer from southeastern Pennsylvania. Her poetry has been published in Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine, Antler Velvet Arts Magazine, and Tiny Seed Journal.
