I was impressed

by Monica's luxurious Marantz stereo;

the lightness and sonic fidelity of its pickup,

the exact diamond cut of its needle,

the outstanding evenness and unwavering rotation

of its turntable

- and the sheer weight & value of its machinery

It was well before the advent of the compact disc,

through the late heyday of vinyl

and the analogue world,

in the Swedish Seventies

Monica had a modern, central apartment

in the little town,

while most of us resided in old, worn-down buildings

from the 19th century, on derelict contracts

that made legal termination in just three months possible,

though seldom – or ever – put into effect that way

Instead most of us could be sure to have a living quarter

for ten, maybe fifteen or twenty years,

at which time we'd want to move into something more expensive

anyway,

having been lucky in our late teens and twenties,

while we were students or just picked up a trade,

to enjoy an apartment for a negligible rent

That was typical for the Sixties & Seventies,

and to a lesser extent for the Eighties,

but then no more

She was sexy as hell, small-scale & smart,

but kept much too much at bay

by her violent boyfriend,

who was cruel to her and beat her,

but now he was off somewhere,

perhaps in the joint,

and we visited her and her Marantz

to hear Bob Dylan's & the Band's double LP

Before The Flood,

from Dylan's return to touring 1974

after he cut that short in the fall of 1966

because of an alleged motorcycle accident

Another night, around 1976,

I bumped into her

at the pub at Hotel Standard

down by The Theatre Park

She was pissed

I only sipped orange juice,

but tried to jump her in amongst coats & jackets

in the cloakroom,

which she luckily averted

by dragging me across town to my place,

where she all but passed out,

urinated my bed soaking wet

and slept till morning,

when I, suddenly the gentleman,

served her breakfast

and spoke politely

I tore out the mattress and the sheets,

threw the mattress in a garbage container

and brought the sheets to a laundromat

She moved to a bigger city, Gothenburg,

in 1977,

and when I went down there

to attend the Jehovah's Witnesses Convention

Happy Workers,

I arranged to stay with her

That first night, after installing myself with Monica,

we went over to a couple of friends of her

and watched a Bob Dylan concert

out of his second Rolling Thunder tour

at Fort Collins, in Colorado, on TV,

which blew my mind; the first concert with the man

I'd seen; holy smoke; Shelter From the Storm!

Later that night was dedicated to lovemaking

in Monica's bedroom, in Monica's bed, in Monica's grasp

leaving me with long scratches on my back,

but the day after was strictly filled with the convention,

where some Witness brats scolded me for my beard and long hair;

idiots!

The last day in Gothenburg,

Monica and I went to the fairgrounds,

riding the rollercoaster to our satisfaction,

and before my northbound train left

we roamed plenty in the fairground of sexual love,

although Monica complained that she hadn't gotten enough

when the train pulled out

Haven't seen her since