Poem: listen

 (this is the version of this poem read at the Word to Word poetry event on November 5, 2026)

listen

There is poetry in silence

there is poetry in the sounds that break that silence

listen

turn off the TV and the radio

take out your earbuds

shut down your phone

there are sounds that you will hear today that you may never hear again

there are sounds you have heard that you will never hear again

your grandmother's voice

your mother's keys jingling on her keychain as she came home from work

you could tell what your father's mood would be by how he slammed his car door

listen

up on the mountain a trucker is using his jake brake to slow his descent

its noisy blatter echoing through the valley

high overhead a plane is carrying people from somewhere far away to somewhere far away

or to the local airport

school buses filled with children bang down the road

cops pull over students on their way to the community college

a marching band celebrates a touchdown or plays a halftime show

listen

there's a chorus of birds in the morning, fewer now than when you were a kid

and a chorus of frogs and insects at night, fewer now than when you were a kid

skunks squeak with delight as they raid the bowls of cat food left out for the neighborhood strays

the strays call to each other in the dark with agonized lamentations

listen

you can hear your own breathing

and the rush of blood in your ears

and the constant hiss of tinnitus from playing music too loud when you were young

across town a church bell rings to announce the hour, or the half-hour, or call the faithful to Mass

cars roll past your window

rain batters against it and sizzles in the street

one day my voice will be silent

yours will, too

the sounds we hear today may be drowned out by noise

or we may find ourselves unable to hear anything

but for now

listen

just listen 

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This poem was inspired in part by a post I wrote on the sounds of Nanticoke, itself a response to plans to build numerous data centers in the areas just outside of Nanticoke, data centers that, when operating, will fill the air with noise across to sound spectrum, drowning out many of the sounds currently audible to residents. Once they are up and running, it may be too late to do anything about the noise.