Do You Listen?

Do you listen?

I’ve spoken before about voices —
how it’s hard to be heard in a sea of noise.
But I need to ask again:
Do you listen?

Do you listen to your wife,
your husband,
your partner,
your children?

Did you listen to your parents?
Your grandparents?
Your aunts and uncles?

Do you listen to your colleagues,
your students,
your friends?

I do.

That’s what I do —
I listen.
I’m someone to rely on,
to laugh with,
to tell your story to.

But let’s turn the tables for a moment.

Would you listen to me?

You’re listening now, I know.
Reading this.
Following along.

But are you really paying attention?

Society doesn’t want people to listen.
We’re all too wrapped up in our own little bubbles.
And the listeners?
We’re being deafened
by the overwhelming noise of modern life —
a loud, endless ruckus
where even a scream
goes unheard.

Even the countryside hums.
A constant buzz of life.
You’re never far from a road,
a railway,
or some little kid
blaring Peppa Pig at full blast.

On the bus?
It’s worse.
I’m forced to hear someone else’s music.
TikToks played out loud.
A private conversation
that’s anything but private:

“Yeah mate, she shagged my best friend —
I’m off to Spoons, getting smashed,
then I’m gonna kick her door in.”

Or kids shouting how they beat someone up at school,
spraying Lynx like victory,
slamming the bell repeatedly
because they can.

And the drivers?
They don’t engage anymore.
It’s appalling behaviour —
but what can they do?
Society’s made them powerless.

Listening shouldn’t be torturous.
But here we are.
Forced to hear everything we don’t want to.
And so, by the time someone actually wants us to listen…
when we’re finally asked to listen…

We’ve had enough.
We just want
to be left alone.