A tiny cassette fastened to the day,
it clipped the future onto denim seams,
and turned the schoolyard air into a play.
The plastic body hummed in private dreams,
a song too loud for something so contained,
yet lived inside a pocket full of beams.
Each button pressed released what was restrained,
a chorus spilling out from colored shell,
where childhood’s noise was carefully unchained.
It made the ordinary briefly swell,
a walk to class a soundtrack on repeat,
a world that only we could hear so well.
And though the device was small and incomplete,
it taught us how to carry sound along—
a portable and restless kind of beat.
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Author:
Matthew R. Callies (
Offline) - Published: July 5th, 2026 00:02
- Comment from author about the poem: This poem is about Pocket Rockers, a brand of personal stereo produced by Fisher-Price in the late 1980s, aimed at elementary school-age children.
- Category: Unclassified
- Views: 10
- Users favorite of this poem: Tristan Robert Lange
- In collections: Toy Box.
Offline)
Comments2
This poem reminded me, a far older person, of my transistor radio in the 1960's. Well written
Matthew, what a wonderful nostalgic piece. You took a simple object and reminded us how much freedom and imagination it represented. By the end, it isn't just about a cassette player anymore...it's about carrying a little piece of your own world wherever you went. Beautiful work, my friend. 🌹🖤🙏🕯️🐦⬛
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