How to Listen by Major Jackson

How to Listen

I am going to cock my head tonight like a dog

in front of McGlinchy's Tavern on Locust;

I am going to stand beside the man who works all day combing

his thatch of gray hair corkscrewed in every direction.

I am going to pay attention to our lives

unraveling between the forks of his fine-tooth comb.

For once, we won't talk about the end of the world

or Vietnam or his exquisite paper shoes.

For once, I am going to ignore the profanity and

the dancing and the jukebox so I can hear his head crackle

beneath the sky's stretch of faint stars.