Fire

Is your solitude crushing?

^{The musings of the solitary walker by René Magritte}

Dear Readers,

Solitude is a running theme in Bob Hicok’s oeuvre — how we’re alone in the world, and together in this aloneness. This poem, aptly titled “Fire”, ignites a dialogue with the abyss of our inner worlds. This short poem illuminates the depths of loneliness with incisive wit and tender reflection. Through his classic humor, Hicok invites us to confront our existential queries head-on. He reminds us that despite the weight of our individual burdens, we are bound together by the shared experience of being human.

May we learn to carry the burden of our loneliness,

Karan

Fire

by Bob Hicok

Is your solitude crushing?
Do you feel like a milk carton
at the bottom of the ocean
with your face on it asking the abyss,
Have you seen this child?
The abyss shrugs and puts its back
into digging the hole
other holes look up to.
“Dunno” is the entire vocabulary
of the mysteries of life.
That’s something a giddy man says.
A limber man. A man
with nothing to snooze.
The funniest thing about life
remains that we’re all in this
alone together. I see your loneliness
and raise your jumping out a window
with trying to catch you,
the only sport that matters.
One day you’ll return my cordless drill
and the favor, and I’ll build
a new set of bookshelves
and try to live forever
in the time I have to live awhile.

This poem was recently published in The Good Life Review.