.
.
photo via PickPik
.
.
To Listen
The hardest skill to learn
is to listen.
Always one wants to interrupt,
to explain, to contradict, to deny.
To listen, however, requires
humility, forbearance, acknowledgement
of one’s limitations, one’s
lack of knowledge, of understanding.
To listen is to start
at the beginning and assume
nothing, be poised
to discover, to catch glimpses,
and follow rivers of others’ thoughts
wherever they may lead, to be
fearless amidst the unknown, to welcome
the strange, the plain, the different.
To truly listen is to hear storms
within silence, to recognize
beauty in the homely, the plain-spoken,
to grasp that difference leads to insight.
.
.
___
.
.
Michael L. Newell lives on the Atlantic Coast of Florida. His most recent book of poems is Passage of a Heart.
.
.
Listen to the 1953 recording of Duke Ellington performing “Reflections in D”
.
.
___
.
.
Click here to read The Sunday Poem
Click here to read “A Collection of Jazz Poetry – Winter, 2024 Edition”
Click here to read “Ballad,” Lúcia Leão’s winning story in the 65th Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction Contest
Click here for information about how to submit your poetry or short fiction
Click here to subscribe to the (free) Jerry Jazz Musician quarterly newsletter
Click here to help support the ongoing publication of Jerry Jazz Musician, and to keep it commercial-free (thank you!)
.
___
.
.
Jerry Jazz Musician…human produced (and AI-free) since 1999
.
.
.
