I'm just a starving college student, bro;
So, don't you like your Christmas gift? I put
The car in park and squinted at the snow
That lay in mounds beside her frozen street.
My sister's taste in music, on cassette,
She'd found unwrapped but untouched on my back
seat
In March.
I played the tape before she said
Another word.
As we drove into town
Its bass and treble sidled through my head
Inertly, while she bounced in syncopation.
It isn't her
distractions I dislike;
Rather, knowing any compilation,
Album, or otherwise recorded note
Now leaves me numb. While once I memorized
Each tune with joy, now I have ennui down
rote.