< href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=181197">Spirit ditty of no fax-line dial tone by Bob Hicok : The Poetry Foundation [poem] : Find Poems and Poets. Discover Poetry.
However, I don't want to imply that Hicok cannot be serious, even grave and philosophical. So here's one more poem. It's still informed by humor, but now it's also undercut by the gravity of the subject. I think that tension makes "Her my body" the richest of the three Hicok poems posted this week.
Love carries the day, as it did two days ago. However, if we see Hicok's gambits as gambles, the stakes are higher in this reckless toss of insects, drool, dog petting, cancer, and devotion. Does Hicok bring it off, or has he asked too much of himself in terms of controlling the sheer variety of his images, or balancing wit against genuine and deep emotion? Following his thought pattern is again something of a quiz, though not a very difficult challenge until, perhaps, the last two stanzas. In addition to their meaning, how do you hear the tone of the final lines?
The title's wording is a little unconventional. What do you make of it?
Her my body by Bob Hicok : The Poetry Foundation [poem] : Find Poems and Poets. Discover Poetry.
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2 comments:
Bob Hicok is my new favorite poet. I so identify with "Her my body" - who can't love someone and then wonder how life goes on (IE, what do they think of when they blow dry their hair?) when the bell of doom (or not) may be striking.
Have you taken a look at "After working sixty hours again for what reason" by Bob Hicok - also on the Poetry Foundation site? Or "Dropping the euphemism"? That one ate me alive.
I almost put up "Dropping the euphemism." Don't remember what changed my mind.
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