Words for Empty and Words for Full (Pitt Poetry Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been huge fan of Bob Hicok's previous work, his books of poetry consistently finding their way into my bag time and time again. I find something comforting and human about the way his mind wanders on the page, the way his poems pick up so many seemingly disparate strands of thought and knot them into something profound yet grounded.
In his latest book, "Words for Empty and Words for Full," Hicok has not only continued this tradition of muscular & engaged poetry, but put his considerable talent to the test by tackling some incredibly difficult subject matters.
Take for example "In These Times," the poem which opens this book. Hicok grew up & still has family in Michigan, a state that's been ravaged by the current horrible economy. Hicok works hard to find the words to express what he sees without being patronizing, or victimizing, or claiming pain that isn't his, or just declaring facts without an ounce of poetics or grace, or any of the numerous other pitfalls other poets stumble into.
The poem begins : "My sister's out of work and my brother's / out of work and my other brother's / out of work, these are facts available / over the phone or in person, just as now, / three clouds travel north, one / above another, smallish, amoeba shaped, / and the bottom cloud just died, / and the top two have joined forces / and left me to fend for myself/ under a new sky. // How vague is that, amoeba shaped? / That could be anything: cigar shaped, / Manhattan shaped, could be libor, t-bill, jobs report, / which arrive as theoretical entities, words / from a tele-prompter repeated by newscasters / and converted to waves beamed to satellites / and bounced to my set to be reconstituted / as their basset-hound eyes of concern / when the day's dollop or wallop of woe / is mashed and rehashed by people / making good scratch for telling us how bad it is."
That's just the first two stanzas, but you can already see how he uses his skill to weave the personal with the public, the interior with the exterior, the poetic with the harshly real. It is a pattern that continues through out the book as he tackles difficult subjects like the economy, the war, job loss, violence, abortion, the environment and even serial killers -- all with the same clear-eyed, poetic yet human writing.
This is not to say that the book is not without its lighter moments, or that all the topics he writes about subjects that are Important with a capital "I" -- he still finds time to write shorter poems which capture moments with a delicate precision, has fun with pie graphs & poor cartooning, and his wife is a smart & opinionated character who pops us as his savvy & adored anchor.
Still, what I love about this collection is how far Hicok was willing to challenge himself, expose his thoughts & processes with fresh & appreciated candor. The second section of this book tackles subject matter that is so unbelievably raw & exposed that I literally gasped upon reading the first poem & clasped my hand to my heart for the remaining poems. Dealing with a tragic event that gained national coverage and which Hicok had a very intimate connection, Hicok's poetry dealing with it was eye-opening as it was brave, showing angles & perspectives that were unexpected and yet immediately familiar. His poetry has a way of doing this: showcasing something you didn't expect & then making you realize how it was actually right in front of your eyes the whole time.
I've often said that my favorite poetry books are ones where you feel like you have gotten to know the poet better as an actual living breathing human being, and not just a collection of thoughts & words. In this collection, I feel like Hicok has exposed not only his life & his thoughts, but his very heart. Or as he puts in it in "A Primer," the masterful poem that concludes this collection, "In this way I have given you a primer. / Let us all be from somewhere. / Let us tell each other everything we can."
The Pitt Poetry series should be congratulated on putting out another vital & bravely contemporary work. I am so grateful to add another solid Hicok collection into my messenger bag's constant rotation.

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'As always with a Bob Hicok book, fascinating and a book you sort of can't help but pick up and suddenly, two hours later, find yourself having read straight through. I can think of just about no contemporary poets who publish such consistently great work." —Corduroy Books

'Bob Hicok's poetry is a fleeting comfort, a temporary solace from the chaos of the world. Smart, honest, powerfully inventive, his writing asks the biggest questions while acknowledging that there are no answers beyond the imposed structure of the page." —Los Angeles Times on This Clumsy Living

'The most potent ingredient in virtually every one of Bob Hicok's compact, well-turned poems is a laughter as old as humanity itself, a sweet waggery that suggests there's almost no problem that can't be solved by this poet's gentle humor." —New York Times Book Review on Insomnia Diary
--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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