Once, unemployed, I walked
into a record store and found
an old 45 of a song that
mirrored my situation.

I wanted to buy that piece
of vinyl, take it home
and watch it spin on
my record player; wanted
that merry melody to fill
my room; wanted
that black wax to drip
into my ear.

I wanted escapism to be
a doo wop song. But, instead
I used my money to
buy a salad from 7-11.

Months later, with my first
paycheck from my new job,
I went back to that record store.
But that Silhouettes’ 45
had already gone home
with someone else.

Nikolai Garcia sleeps in Compton, CA. He works with homeless youth in East Hollywood, and is an Assistant Editor for Dryland, a literary arts journal based in South Central Los Angeles. He has been published in the anthologies, The Coiled Serpent, (Tia Chucha Press), Extreme (Vagabond Books), No Tender Fences, and in various literary journals. His first chapbook, Nuclear Shadows of Palm Trees, was published by DSTL Arts. He is also a founding member of the Coleman Collective.