1972 By Glenn Armstrong

Just heard a Velvet Underground song

on a commercial. The “underground”

is officially dead. How can ideas have

time to ferment when some demo

is on social media seven seconds later?

I put The Velvet Underground & Nico

on the turntable anyway. German 

Nico still pronounces “clown” as “clon.”

In other news, an American spacecraft

landed on the moon for the first time

since 1972. Yet, there’s still nothing good

on, streaming or otherwise, as an ancient

TV Guide fossilizes at the bottom

of a garbage heap. ‘72 was a great year

for music: Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, T. Rex’s

The Slider, Lou Reed’s Transformer.

Notable films that year: The Godfather, 

Fat City, and The Getaway. (All based

on novels!) I was alive then, but not doing

much. Now it’s time to flip the record over. 

Glenn Armstrong was an '80s NYC club kid. Foundational music from the Ramones to P-Funk informs his poetry. His work has appeared in The Beatnik Cowboy, The Rye Whiskey Review, and others. He lives in San Diego.