Background Music

did you recognize
the song
on the radio in the video —
“china cat
sunflower,”
that old grateful dead song —
did it stir anything in you
or did you leave it
turned down —
turned a little wistful,
swayed a bit; did you
find yourself wondering
about who put it
there, as background music
only, while two main
characters talked
and never seemed to stop
to listen — neither
stopped as you did
when it came on — neither
stopped to say the name,
“china cat sunflower,”
to reminisce about concerts
they’d seen — did you
stop the video, run
to the stereo, and weep
about its shift into
fodder, cynical fodder,
while you listened to it
twice?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
onward,
T