By Kenneth Pobo
I first heard Tommy James and the Shondells at age eleven. Their “Hanky Panky” shot to number one. Each release cast spells on me. Before then, I just knew churchy songs that I dreaded to sing on Sundays. Our god had to be a mighty fortress, a place to escape to when wicked ways tried to kidnap us at our home address. “Say I Am,” “It’s Only Love,” “I Think We’re Alone Now,” “Mirage,” on my radio. School was scary. Those records calmed my fear of the world beyond my bedroom window, my sturdy fortress built from three-minute singles, each one calling me to play it.
Kenneth Pobo (he/him) is the author of twenty-one chapbooks and nine full-length collections. Recent books include Bend of Quiet (Blue Light Press), Loplop in a Red City (Circling Rivers), and Lilac And Sawdust (Meadowlark Press) and Gold Bracelet in a Cave: Aunt Stokesia (Ethel Press). His work has appeared in North Dakota Quarterly, Asheville Literary Review, Nimrod, Mudfish, Hawaii Review, and elsewhere.
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