Perhaps it began upstairs
at the Dover Street house.
My sisters and I and a pile of old ‘78’s
Dad bought from some dumpy bar
in some po-dunk town.
Forty records for five dollars.

We squealed with delight,
ran up the blue carpeted steps
to the old pull-down record player.
That was years before our RCA Victor
stereophonic record player
complete with remote speakers.
This old one in a blonde, water-stained cabinet
was good enough to hear the melodies--
a glistening brass instrument,
ivory and ebony keys, and a voice
like none other pouring out of shellac disks:
“Star Dusk”, “What A Wonderful World”,
“Ain’t Misbehavin’”, “When You’re Smiling”.

So it came to be that I fell in love
with an avuncular face, a voice
mixing whiskey with lace,
a satchel mouth that could blow a trumpet
like one of Heaven’s angels.

Candace Hennekens is a poet, writer and artist.. Her first poetry chapbook, “Warm Stanchions And Red Barns With Blue Roofs”, can be found online.  She lives on the banks of the Eau Claire River. More of her work.

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