Polyvinyl chloride disc
with modulated spiral groove,
you’re up to scratch,
you’re prone to snap,
your pop’s crackle makes me move.
You turn the tables,
you’re fragile, an uncalculated risk.
I love you thirty-three and a third more times
than any compact disc
(and forty-five times more
than a download
from an online store).
Digital is clinical,
cuts the air like a surgeon’s knife,
but vinyl has the touch, the feel,
and surface noise of life.
Brian Bilston 
Hi Brian,
I’m back again.
I’m one of those folk that thinks listening to anything but vinyl is verging on the sacrilegious and so I couldn’t agree more.
Someone else who concurs is Nigel House. He’s one of the partners at Rough Trade.
I sent him your poem and he loves it.
I don’t think ‘You took the last bus… ‘ is on sale at the shop but I’m pretty sure they’d stock it and if you gave them a print of the poem they’d put it up in the shop.
I have no idea how you go about these things but if your distributor wanted to connect with Nigel I can act as a conduit.
John
P.S. I’ve just noticed that Portobello (London) might be a stretch for someone who lives in Canada.
Thanks very much for this, John. The book is distributed by Random House – and it would be good to have them get in touch with Nigel. Perhaps you could email me his contact details – I’m on brianbilston@outlook.com – and I can pass these onto them.
thank you again for all your kind deeds,
Brian