he’s read all the books
listened to the early work
is in love with Syd Barrett
the mythos of the man anyway
& we’re almost on the same page
though he can’t help himself
reading from notes in the margin
written by some obsessive
late on a long spliff’d night
& I tell him the bits I know
the rifts between Roger & David
the sacking of Richard
the rhythm of Dave M thudding
keeping the thing on track
but he’s hearing with 21st century ears
sensibilities politics & fears
& the music he hears
is not what it was
in those years
the switch from mono to stereo
how that all shifted the mix
when this first came out of the radio
the dansette sat on the floor
we had to listen tight
over & over
see if we could get it
understand what the band were doing
proto anthropology students
on the trail of space alien spoor
trying to fit what we got now
with what had existed before
& it didn’t
there was a jar
between then & the new work
which created the excitement
this was new this was new
& we had to move
progress with it
or get out the way through the door
where what he hears
fits into patterns
created back then
before
his here & now
