Songs are like Tattoos

This came with a rush this morning, prompted no doubt by a conversation with my daughter about my ex-husband's imminent 70th birthday, and reading a poem which ended with a reference to Bob Dylan, taking me back to another life.


Songs are like Tattoos 

We moved a lot back then,
pulling ourselves up the property ladder
from ex-council to 4-bed detached.
Each move saw the ritual 
of setting up the stereo, balancing the speakers.
Vinyl gave way to CDs, but always
the strains of 'Blue' echoed in an unpacked room.

This house has been home now, for twenty years.
I shed one husband, stereo, CD player;
now we stream whatever we fancy.
But still, on days when I find myself alone, 
with the quiet creating an empty space to fill in,
I sometimes find myself asking:
"Alexa, play Joni Mitchell's Blue".


© Copyright 2025. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved

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