Love Poem
you are everything / the world has to say
Love Poem
by Bob Hicok
I only enjoy chess without pawns— when the two sides go at it like sex at one thirty seven a.m.—no pretense that real contact isn’t wanted— similar to the oboe player below us feeling obviously big things about the planet and his soul— about leaves being open mouths— about all the rooms one has to cross before someone on the other side lifts a corsage that smells remotely like yes—if a game of chess can be over in six seconds, we can find the time to stand in front of the statue of Balzac holding hands—resisting the temptation to call him Ball Sack—before we realize it’s really Andre Gide—that it’s really unimportant who is dead in bronze pretending to be alive—more important which is the best street gyro of all the street gyros—which pocket has the napkins to wipe the tzatziki from your face, more lovely than any tumbling routine— each of us not going anywhere we don’t look over and find the other simultaneously arriving to the conclusion, “I’m so glad you’re here”—if you were anything not human—anything without a pulse—you’d be a bicycle and I’d be the wind trying hard to stay on and not so much succeeding as never giving up—I’m not sure why I turned you into a bicycle but I did—words are amazing— you are amazing—you are everything the world has to say
First Published in Poetry City, USA, Vol. 5
Well done
Wonderful. Thanks for this!