They are all listening
with ears that really
hear each line rolling
into the next,
connecting together, everything
like a good story does;
they notice the nuance, the cadence, 
the literary references,
repeat them back, the lines, the words
(I don’t know how to spell) with ease
with detailed accounts of their own experience listening
and I try 
to keep up
notice the spider,
the itch,
the phone call from earlier,
I blink and miss lines
the holes
confuse me,
I can’t keep up
though I want to 
long to
be to them 
what they’ve been 
to me
to each other;
I’ve never 
been good at listening.