Man Listening to Disc

(2) Sea Level

Given that this poem is written in pretty simple, direct language, it's not hard to follow. The only thing that might take some figuring is that there are all of these references to musicians like Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, and Tommy Potter, whom we may not be familiar with—especially if we're not jazz connoisseurs. That said, a bit of Googling (or Shmooping) clarifies pretty quickly whom the speaker is talking about.