Chapin City Blues

I drafted, revised, and submitted a poem called “I Want a Walkman” earlier this year. I see it as a love letter to my youth and the cassette tape player attached to my hip. Maybe Shaun’s ever-growing fascination with retro media (he requests vinyl records for gifts) inspired me to write it. Or maybe the inspiration was rooted in nostalgia. Or a combination of both.  

I miss those chunky bastards— 
the way they hung on pockets, sagging 
loose jeans as they played 
carefully crafted mixtapes 
slipped to us during passing periods 
in the hallways of our high school; 

Those who knew me in high school understand how serious I was about making mix tapes. It was an art form, a declaration of love and passion. Poured over hours of music to create these miniscule soundtracks of the day.  

As the years went by, I gave into the technological trends and swapped the cassette for the compact disc. And then the streaming playlist. While the mix CDs gave me the same thrill, the process was quick. I didn’t have to listen to each track, pausing at the right moment.  

Don’t get me started on the emptiness of creating a playlist that I cannot share with others. The ones I make are mine to listen to alone, never to share. 

Cassette tapes became outdated; why anyone would want to revisit that era was beyond me. At a birthday party for a friend-of-a-friend (now a friend), they were gifted a Walkman, and the idea boggled my mind. With media being where it was now, why go backwards? 

Then later, at Barnes and Noble, Shaun hinted that he wanted the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack, which was released in cassette format. “You don’t even have a cassette player,” I tell him. Then, after looking at the price, “And I wouldn’t have paid that much for a cassette tape back in the day, either.” 

This was around the time I started seeing ads for We Are Rewind’s cassette tape player. Reviewers were quick to note they were not the famous Sony Walkman, but they were good. It was around here when the idea for the poem came into being. So, I wrote down the first line, which later became the title: “I want a Walkman/Man, I miss those chunky sons of bitches.”  

I spent the first few months of 2024 mulling over the idea of buying one, then regulated the idea to back of my mind. I wrote and rewrote, reworked, changed, drafted, final drafted, final, final drafted and eventually sent my Walkman poem to a queer anthology. And at the tail end of the year, I revisit the idea of buying the cassette player. While the idea of purchasing “old tech” for such a high price tag, what sold me was the reverse recording capabilities.  

Are mixtapes back? Maybe. It does give me an idea, though.  

Speaking of Playlists:

You can listen to my Xmas playlist on YouTube Music. Or don’t. I don’t tell you how to live your life.