~ back when ~

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Back when everything was pen to paper, and dishwasher paychecks weren’t yet spent on compact discs, I’d create my own dj segments of poetry and comic capers, while doing the adolescent version of calculated risks. Fast forward and rewind would remind me to look back, and that I was always running out of time. Pressing play helped me get ready for the day. The Walkman went on the bus for the field trip, the pages stacked high on my dresser. I’d have to learn hip hop in sips, but I never felt any lesser. There wasn’t an internet to look up lyrics, copy and paste, and repost. There weren’t yet hysterics to host. It was about the music and the words before I knew what they were called, before I had ever even seen MTV. Sometimes low battery meant the flow stalled, but a fresh Duracell pack brought them back to me.

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