Hiss, Wow and Flutter

CBS, a blue label,

“sound electronically reprocessed

for stereo reproduction”

- but not on a Dansette.

One of my dad’s discs:

a skinny guy from Hoboken

on the cover, in Tux and Bow-tie

before the hat and raincoat,

and the swinging

instead of singing.

That vinyl crackle -

like applause before the music-

the black disc’s vertical oscillation

noticeable from above.

That voice.

A young man’s;

a first-wife,

full-head-of-hair,

I-can-make-it-here

kind of voice.

Track one,

no famous song this,

just Autumn In New York.

I always wondered

why it wasn’t fall.