Bob Hicok's poem "Spirit ditty of a no fax-line dial tone" does an excellent job of taking us through a familiar situation to get to a meaningful point. He uses emotion that is familiar and accessible to us to get through a frustrating situation and reach a profound conclusion.
The detail makes us laugh and feel at ease. Descriptions like "hula skirt of tools" and "or a taser from hair caught in the drain and the million volts of frustration popping through my body," work really well for this poem. At first, I wasn't even sure I wanted to call this poetry, but I gradually came to the realization that this couldn't be anything else. It wouldn't work as well in prose essay form.
By the time Hicok gets to the end of the poem, we're waiting to see what he will do about the lousy AT&T service and he whiplashes around into a startling conclusion: the broken line is a blessing in disguise. Maybe we've neglected something crucial about nature, about a slower pace, about patience and the steadfastness of weather.
I'm willing to accept this from him because the poem shows him realizing in a way I sympathize with. I have been drawn into this moment by his humorous approach to frustration with technology and the people who claim to fix it.
Along with these things, he also uses some poetic devices rather well. The repetition of "Up to a work order. Down at a phone jack." several times is brilliant because it's not just emphasis; it's narrating emotion in a very visual way.
After thinking it wasn't really poetry because of the conversational tone, I might end up claiming it as my favorite of the semester!
-Audrey Guire
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