LPs and Armchair theories - published in Ghost City Review

Published March 2020.

Lps and Armchair Theories

I remember the time 
we found that stash
of eleven vinyl records
in the attic of that derelict 
we used to rent downtown
strewn among rat droppings
but safe and unscratched 
in their dog-eared jackets -
Shostakovich, Vivaldi, Gershwin
each inscribed in a calligraphed hand :
I love you Peter, 
yours ever, Laura.
all dated the 14th of June
from 1988 to 1999.
 
we brought the LPs down
played them one by one 
night after night at dinner
speculating all the while 
on the lives of the previous renters -
the mysterious Laura and Peter
concocting our own tales -
14th June was Peter’s birthday
or that’s when he first met Laura
or that’s when they got married
how they likely never made it 
past the turn of the millennium
her gift of one LP a year
coming to an abrupt stop
when Laura ceased to love Peter 
somewhere at the eleven year mark.
 
we took random guesses 
at the vows they broke
pictured their union tail spinning 
neither claiming the record collection
and as a last act of severance 
forsaking their musical baggage
discarded in the attic
the vestige of a love gone rancid.
 
back then you and I
were one year old newbies 
and marriage and armchair theories 
came so flippant and easy.

https://ghostcitypress.com/poetry-32/2020/3/14/oormila-vijayakrishnan-prahlad