Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Bob Hicok’s "Finally Opening the Anthology to Kunitz" is an exploration of literary communion, the strange intimacy between reader and poet, and the ways in which a poet’s work can become a presence in the reader’s life. It is a meditation on how poetry shapes perception, offering not just language but a way of seeing, and how the simple act of reading can dissolve the barriers between the living and the dead. The poem is marked by Hicok’s characteristic wit, casual yet precise diction, and a fluidity of thought that moves seamlessly from observation to abstraction.

The poem opens with an immediate, almost humorous intimacy: "I found him in the bathroom." This casual, mundane setting contrasts with the reverence one might expect when encountering the work of a poet as esteemed as Stanley Kunitz. It establishes Hicok’s approach—literature is not a lofty, untouchable force, but something that enters our daily lives in unexpected ways. The casualness continues with "Straight off he said it’s as easy to lose perspective as a shoe." The line suggests both the wisdom of Kunitz and the speaker’s playful interpretation of it. A shoe is a small, often misplaced object—suggesting that perspective, too, is something easily lost, easily overlooked, yet fundamental to movement through life.

Hicok describes his process of inferring meaning from Kunitz’s words and image: "I inferred this from the word shriven, just as his picture told me he’s a doorknob worn smooth by turnings, the hands of night that opened him to himself." The word "shriven" (suggesting absolution, confession, or purification) takes on a tactile quality when paired with the image of a "doorknob worn smooth by turnings." The poet himself becomes an object shaped by time and use, a passage between states, a thing that has been handled, opened, and entered. This is a deeply intimate reading of Kunitz—not just his poetry but his presence as a poet, as a person whose words have been turned over again and again by readers, polished by interpretation.

The poem then expands into metaphor, linking the act of reading with natural and musical imagery: "Perhaps snow falling through a beakered sky or the diva groove of crickets is as pure as our bond, based solely on metaphor and sly enjambment." The reference to a "beakered sky" suggests an experimental or alchemical process, as if poetry is a scientific distillation of experience. The "diva groove of crickets" turns the natural world into a performance, reinforcing the idea that poetry is a sonic as well as a visual and intellectual experience. The "bond" between the speaker and Kunitz exists entirely in language, in the shaping of metaphor and the way lines spill over in enjambment, mimicking the ongoing movement of thought.

The following lines introduce an image of a whale, a moon-like body beached under a "corrosive sky." The poet’s touch upon this stranded creature does not change its fate—"there was no hope it understood that even ravishment in certain minds becomes a promise." This moment speaks to the fundamental ambiguity of art: poetry can transform suffering into beauty, but that transformation does not necessarily undo suffering itself. The whale does not know it has become a metaphor. The act of poetic seeing, of turning something tragic into something luminous, is a kind of promise, but one that exists only within the poet’s mind.

The poem then shifts to an imagined moment of recognition and approval from Kunitz himself: "I think he’d like how we met and smile at the rustic music that accompanied his own, and turn to the window, to the constellation of roses, and be warmed to know that wanting only a moment’s occupation, I found so much faith in his lines that I stayed well beyond, having forgotten my purpose." Here, Hicok captures the experience of deep reading—the way a poet’s work can consume a reader, drawing them in beyond the initial moment of curiosity or distraction. The "constellation of roses" suggests both beauty and interconnectedness, reinforcing the idea that poetry links people across time and space. The poem concludes on a note of surrender, of being drawn so fully into Kunitz’s world that the speaker "forgot [his] purpose." This is the highest praise for a poet’s work—not merely to be read, but to so completely captivate the reader that time, intention, and even self-awareness dissolve.

Hicok’s "Finally Opening the Anthology to Kunitz" is ultimately a poem about the transformative power of poetry, the way a single encounter with a poet’s words can shift perspective, reshape thought, and create a connection that feels personal, even when separated by time and mortality. The poem blends humor and reverence, playfulness and depth, mirroring the experience of reading itself—at once casual and profound, lighthearted and life-changing.

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