forecast

a poem

by Bob Hicok

August 28, 2024

Forecast

I fell asleep in the rain.

Its too many kisses

washed my face away.

I thought it a dream,

but woke with little

to offer mirrors.

Now the sky

is clear.

However

the forecast

is for rain.

These are shoes,

this is my shirt,

this a list

of my sins,

my little pleasures.

Remember them.

Soon they'll be

what's left of me.

Note: This poem is reprinted from The Legend of Light (University of Wisconsin Press, 1995)

Headshot of poet Bob Hicok.

Bob Hicok is the author of Water Look Away (Copper Canyon Press, 2023). He has received a Guggenheim, two NEA Fellowships, the Bobbitt Prize from the Library of Congress, nine Pushcart Prizes, and was twice a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His poems have appeared in nine volumes of the Best American Poetry.