work radio, adios

Remodeling the basement in Berkeley
the old plug-in radio gives up the ghost
and gets tosst like common rubbish
on the backyard plywood heap
taking with it the archaeology
     of my mind--
the summers at John's
when Cesar & Pancho listened
to Mexican ballads
shoveling in the bright sunshine,
the KNBR Gary Radnich days
in the Oakland hills 
laughing out loud with sawdust in my hair
or KRFC blaring Jagger
as I rolled Navajo White on walls
in China Basin;
      dusty shop days
nothing happening in a Giants' game
or getting wet
forgotten in the back of the truck--
Most of all I remember
the day Lindsey gave it to me
because I glommed onto it
doing odd jobs around her house,
beat radio that formerly belonged
to brother Bruce who perished
   six years ago
      in a pre-dawn trailer fire