12 Comments
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James A Higgins's avatar

I rode buses like that alone a lot as a kid in the 1950s, from San Antonio to a little town near Abilene, TX. This is wonderful writing that brings it home.

David's avatar

San Antonio to Abilene alone as a kid — that's a poem in itself.

Catherine Gonick's avatar

Oh finally letting me post. I entered 3 codes sent to me by email and none of them worked.

Maybe this won't either when I hit Post. Really liked the poem, so evocative of riding the long bus.

Karan Kapoor's avatar

Thanks for making the effort to leave a comment, Catherine! Appreciate your readership🌻

David's avatar

That opening line — "we brought our failures with us" — I've been carrying that around all week.

Karan Kapoor's avatar

Thank you for your readership, David! :)

Jean-Paul's avatar

I always know it's going to be a banger before I even start reading. This did not disappoint.

lchristopher's avatar

This is amazing - thank you so much for establishing an electronic corner of the universe for Mssr. Hicok. One of my favorite works ever was written by him.

https://lchristopher.substack.com/p/the-gift-by-bob-hicok-spoken-word

Karan Kapoor's avatar

I love that poem a lot (The Gift).

lchristopher's avatar

Yes sir. It is one of my favorites. I think it captures the relationship between a man and his wife very well, how well she knows him; how he has been saved by her from his unhappy past.

I think on this often. I had no idea he was still alive.

The fact he taught a class for you boggles my mind.

Thanks ever so. I learn more and more each time I dip my toe into this great wide digital lake of wonders.

-LC

Karan Kapoor's avatar

He didn’t teach a class for me (I actually co-taught a class with him (his last official class before he retired) two years ago. And he visited my class and we conducted it as a QnA. The students asked the questions. It was super cool.

Have you read his most recent book? It came out less than 2 weeks ago. I highly recommend it.

Dick Westheimer's avatar

What a gift Bob is. Another sonic, spiritual journey in 200 words.