When I came down to the kitchen for breakfast
Music was already awake, turning up the radio
and scanning through white noise and babble
to tune to his favourite station:
‘I was there when Butler shouted Judas!’
Music bragged, as Dylan’s Like A Rolling Stone
filled the kitchen with a swirl of organ
and I smiled knowingly, mumbling my way
from verse to refrain. Static fizzed and,
through the haunting choir of tuned-up voices –
newsreaders, adverts, unknown languages –
Music’s fingers led us somewhere new:
‘No denying it, punk rock changed the way
we think and dress.’ I nodded to the Pistols
and looked down at my sheepskin slippers.
‘Or maybe you prefer the Blues?’ Already
I was ear wormed… I woke up this morning…
Andy Brown
Illustration Nick Victor