Just as a way of segueing into some fiction.
This thing still working?
Maybe I've abused it too much.
But it's irresistible.
Here's a poem that has some dialogue and things like that
in it and has to do with a haircut.
And then I think I can read a story that's mostly dialogue
and it has to do with a shave.
And we'll see.
It's kind of a transitional poem.
It's not about Arizona.
It's about-- it takes place in Provincetown, Massachusetts,
at Joe's Barbershop.
And I read this poem over a year ago now, I guess,
in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and there was--
[LAUGHTER] and they were there.
There was this little bit of activity or something
in the back of the room when I introduced it and talked
about Joe's Barbershop a little bit.
I thought maybe there was an argument--
somebody was having a divorce back there during the poem.
But after I was done reading, a guy and his wife
came up and said to me--
the man said, "I'm Joe's son and he still has his barbershop."
This was as of a year ago.
Now, when I wrote this, and when I
had the experience on which this was based,
he had been at that location in Provincetown
for 50 years cutting hair.
And he was in his 80s, and he was still operating
as of a year ago, I think.
So it's not too late.
Or maybe it is, but--
When he told me that, I said give me
a haircut just like the one you gave the day
you opened back in the 30s.
And he said, "Sure thing."
And he gave me a haircut exactly like the one he'd just
given the guy before me.
[LAUGHTER] He wasn't to be swayed.
And he held up the mirror, and I said that looks good.
And he said, "Because the reason I
ask-- because I don't give a shit."
[LAUGHTER]
This is a little tale of what happened
before I got my haircut.
It's called "Traveling."
"When I was waiting for a haircut
at Joe's, the man in the chair said, "Hey, do you know Tony?
Lives right up the hill from me?"
And Joe said, "Sure, sure I know Tony.
How long Tony live up the hill from you?"
The man said, "He been living there about 15 years,
I guess it must be."
"Been living there about 15 years, huh?"
Joe said.
"Yeah, right up the hill from me.
And you know what?
Funniest thing-- the guy's diff."
"Diff?
Diff?
Said Joe.
"Yeah, diff.
And I've been saying hello to the guy every day
just about 15 years."
"That so?"
Joe said.
The man in the chair said, "Yeah.
Funniest thing-- he must have good eyesight, though.
Because when I says 'Hello,' he says, 'Hi.'" "What do you know?"
Joe said.
Outside, above the harbor, clouds
were moving freely over the sun's face
and the shifting illumination in the place
made it seem we were traveling.
"Diff, huh?"
Joe said.
And the man said, "Yeah, diff."
"Well, well."
Joe said.
The man remarked, "He must have pretty good eyesight.
Because he talks to you when he can't even hear you."
"How about that?"
Joe said.
"He can't hear a word you're saying," the man said.
"How about that," Joe said.
The man in the chair said, "He can't hear a word of nothing."
[LAUGHTER]
[APPLAUSE]