How to Listen

How to Listen

Major Jackson

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.

Reaction:

I really did like this poem. I thought it had a lot of meaning. I also liked that fact that some parts of it were a little obscure or don't make sense, but the whole thing just flows.

Meaning:

I think the poet is talking about how people normally don't notice the small details in life, all they see is the big picture, which doesn't always give an accurate depiction of what's really going on.

Technique: 

The poem is only one stanza, so all the lines have an important meaning and go together. There was a simile, personification and imagery to make the reader get a more vivid picture in their head. There is no rhyme, and this makes the poem more informal in a way that makes people relate to it.