Can poetry process a bad job situation?

Award-winning poet Bob Hicok discusses his latest book BREATHE and how poetry can process a bad job situation and system.

What I discuss with Bob Hicok:

• Bob talks about when he started writing poetry and how the nature of his writing changed over his life. Bob shares how writing made him want to write.
• Bob reads his poem "Minimum Wage." He breaks down how poetry can inform working life and what poetry can do that non-fiction or journalism can't. "You're putting flesh on the situation" is how Bob puts the act of poetry. It was a phrase that sticks out.
• Bob covers his writing process. He compares the process of writing poetry to being an athlete. He also parses out the difference between writing about something consciously and unconsciously.
• How Bob balances writing about hope. It's one of his central themes in his poetry: what is the value of hope? Are humans good? Is money good? All questions he seems to go between dread and hope — never finding a clear answer.
• Poetry can help us understand our working lives, even if many of us don't like the jobs we do. Bob talks about a factory job he left after a few hours.
• Bob shares his Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots on his bookshelf and why they carry such meaning for him.

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