Praise for Water Look Away
"If you are familiar with Hicok’s quirky humor and wildly free associations, you will find the same brain at work here, but in service to a darker vision. These poems try to make sense of that which defies sense, through a language that often mirrors that futility. . . . Looks unsparingly at loss, a loss that may preclude redemption."—José Alcántara, American Poetry Review
"Hicok’s work has always been thought-provoking and full of startling phrases and ideas, and although Water Look Away is no exception, it is also an incredibly dark and raw sequence of poems. . . . It is an elegy, a sad song, an accusation and a confession."—Rupert Loydell, Tears in the Fence
“An experimental collection openly reckoning with our inner darkness and using humor, empathy, and philosophy to blunt the pummeling tragedy, anger, and depression inherent in the human condition. . . . Hicok’s wordplay can present challenging, questioning puzzles without clear answers, but his poems also offer the salve of laughter as we continue to open and close the books of our selves.”—Micah Zevin, Booklist
"It’s hard to know what resolution to the angst and uncertainty, if any, Hicok arrives at, a la Kübler-Ross, but the speculation is profound and compelling, the poetry like an ouroboros, a snake biting its tail in a symbol of the infinity of the cycle of birth and death."—Charles Rammelkamp, The Lake
Praise for Bob Hicok
“Even in a bad year, Hicok seems to have the medication to treat it, approaching all of the challenges that face us with the gentle humor for which he has long been known…There’s hope here, and sadness here, and fear here, and anger here, and charm here, in just the right proportion of potion to let the reader know that this work is right here, with all of us, that the author is right here, with all of us, that we can almost believe him, and that we can still be thankful for this medication, for our many reasons to live, and for our many ways to do so.”—New York Journal of 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
“Mixing cleverness with tenderness, Hicok demonstrates how to be a beacon of light in the darkest of settings."—Publishers Weekly
"[T]he 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
“[Hicok’s] humor, punning, wit, wisdom, and humility lead to small revelations, introspections, and musings on the human condition—all in the face of danger and atrocity. . . . In a unique blend of punchline and sincerity, Hicok confesses, ‘I’m scared, but not shitless.’”—Arkansas International
“Hicok gives readers unexpected conjunctions and oddly offbeat thoughts, most darkly whimsical, and has us embrace them wholeheartedly. If he can survive the scary carnival that is this world, we can, too.” —Library Journal, starred review
