poetry “He Would Never Use One Word Where None Would Do,”

So, I decided to take a break from divergent, I just wasn't getting as into it as I thought I would.  So I have been looking at some poetry over the past few days instead.  This poem that I read was called “He Would Never Use One Word Where None Would Do,” Philip Levine.  It was a very cool poem, I definitely recommend going to the link and checking it out.  It seems to be about 2 guys, one older than the other, and he seems to have figured out that one of the best things you can give or receive is silence. Its kind of hard to understand.  Post in the comments on what you think it might be about.

He writes about a crisis in this poem.  But he doesn't specify what the crisis was.  It also said it was in May of '97.  So I researched about the spring of '97 a bit and found that the only crisis was in Asia.  Nowhere near where they are.  They are in New York, I know this because of the restaurant that they ate at.  It is in New York.  Maybe he has a personal crisis.  I wonder if there is something wrong with this older man. Maybe in some way, "he" isn't a man, maybe its an object that he is describing to make it sound like a man. Really the only person who knows for sure is Philip Levine.