Bob Hicok's tenth collection of poetry, Hold, moves nimbly between childlike revelry and serious introspection. Hicok, who was a first-hand witness of the mass shooting at Virginia Tech, poignantly satirizes the dark irony of contemporary America: a culture that champions anti-abortion, pro-life legislation while simultaneously normalizing assault rifles, dismissing freedom of gender identity, and discriminating based on race and immigration status. Despite confronting the rampant hypocrisies of the American collective unconscious, Hicok remains true to his deep and tender sense of whimsy and humility. Pointing to the natural world as the source through which people discover one another's beauty--from laughing arm in arm with friends to watching birds with his elderly father--Hicok pauses to celebrate the unapologetically sentimental wonder of living at all. Providing a necessary, redemptive perspective, Hold compels us to right our inherited faults.