--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Torn The internet’s all show, no actual…" description: "\"“Torn The internet’s all show, no actual cunnilingus has transpired between us. This has been smoke signals from eye to eye. And just like the telegrap..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d34/bob-hicok-28640_communication_torn-the-internet-s-all-show-no-actual-c_2945900.jpg" --- # Torn The internet’s all show, no actual cunnilingus has… ![“Torn The internet’s all show, no actual cunnilingus has transpired between us. This has been smoke signals from eye to eye. And just like the telegraph, the telephone gave us a means to the ends of staying ever closer to home, ever farther from the ear we’d dot-dash or whisper into, what a sad…” quote by Bob Hicok](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d34/bob-hicok-28640_communication_torn-the-internet-s-all-show-no-actual-c_2945900.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d34/bob-hicok-28640_communication_torn-the-internet-s-all-show-no-actual-c_2945900.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d34/bob-hicok-28640_communication_torn-the-internet-s-all-show-no-actual-c_2945900.jpg) > ““Torn The internet’s all show, no actual cunnilingus has transpired between us. This has been smoke signals from eye to eye. And just like the telegraph, the telephone gave us a means to the ends of staying ever closer to home, ever farther from the ear we’d dot-dash or whisper into, what a sad story for flesh, marooned. First by the womb, then the word traveled fast and free of lips, now your hips can thrive in my brain without entering my life. I might as well be on the moon. The evolution of communication’s to mythologize togetherness as we drift entropically apart. That’s what the kids call a thesis statement. But god you’re hot, and your crescendo of breath so fully apes the real deal, is it possible we can be islanded and still come to prefer absence to presence, the digital to the palpable? I fear the question answers itself by nodding to the fact that I can write a poem and you read it with no hand having touched metal or paper or words that don’t dissolve as soon as a switch is thrown. Half of my soul says, Get used to it. The other million percent begs, Don’t.”” [Bob Hicok](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-hicok/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote reflects on how digital communication replaces physical intimacy, creating a paradox of closeness and isolation, and the internal conflict between acceptance and yearning for real connection. **In simple terms:** Digital intimacy replaces physical contact, causing both closeness and loneliness. Key Takeaway Embrace real connection over virtual substitutes. Themes technology intimacy isolation communication desire Mood melancholic reflective Type philosophical poetic When to use this quote - online dating - long distance relationships - virtual reality - social media usage - poetry reading Key Concepts digital media human connection psychology Questions to Reflect On - Do you feel more connected or isolated online? - Can digital intimacy ever fully replace physical presence? A Different Perspective It may romanticize distance, overlooking the value of tangible interaction. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Communication](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/communication/) [Eye to eye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eye-to-eye/) [Internet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/internet/) [Poem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poem/) [Real deal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real-deal/) [Smoke signals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smoke-signals/) ## Related quotes > [In woman's womb word is made flesh but in the spirit of the maker all flesh that passes becomes the word that shall not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-joyce/in-woman-s-womb-word-is-made-flesh-but-in-the-spirit-of-the-maker-all/) [James Joyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-joyce/) > [Almost any poem has to be read twice, first for strangeness, second for clarity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-j-daniels/almost-any-poem-has-to-be-read-twice-first-for-strangeness-second-for/) [Peter J. 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I can only describe what I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nafisa-haji/what-i-saw-there-explained-everything-the-reason-he-had-stayed-away/) [Nafisa Haji](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nafisa-haji/) > [“Will I be less dead because I wrote this poem or you more because you read it long years hence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/will-i-be-less-dead-because-i-wrote-this-poem-or-you-more-because-you/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [ \[In response to Alfred Tennyson's poem "Vision of Sin," which included the line "Every moment dies a man, every moment one is born."\] If… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-babbage/in-response-to-alfred-tennyson-s-poem-vision-of-sin-which-included/) [Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-babbage/) > [“Still perfect,” he said. “Read to me.” “This isn’t really a poem to read aloud when you are sitting next to your sleeping mother.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/still-perfect-he-said-read-to-me-this-isn-t-really-a-poem-to-read-2/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [People need what they think of as a poem to be read at their bar mitzvah, their wedding, a funeral, whatever. And people are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-larkin/people-need-what-they-think-of-as-a-poem-to-be-read-at-their-bar/) [Joan Larkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-larkin/) > [“Still perfect,” he said. “Read to me.” “This isn’t really a poem to read aloud when you are sitting next to your sleeping mother.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/still-perfect-he-said-read-to-me-this-isn-t-really-a-poem-to-read/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“I don’t know why I’ve always been like this, why the smallest things make me ache inside. There’s a poem I read once, titled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erika-l-s-nchez/i-don-t-know-why-i-ve-always-been-like-this-why-the-smallest-things/) [Erika L. Sánchez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erika-l-s-nchez/) > [“or that writing a poem you can read to no one is like dancing in the dark.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovid/or-that-writing-a-poem-you-can-read-to-no-one-is-like-dancing-in-the/) [Ovid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovid/) ## More by Bob Hicok > [“I like the idea of different theres and elsewheres, an Idaho known for bluegrass, a Bronx where people talk like violets smell. Perhaps I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-hicok/i-like-the-idea-of-different-theres-and-elsewheres-an-idaho-known-for/) [bob hicok](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-hicok/) > [The dead have no ears, no answering machines that we know of, still we call.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-hicok/the-dead-have-no-ears-no-answering-machines-that-we-know-of-still-we/) [Bob Hicok](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-hicok/) > [“In other languages, you are beautiful- mort, muerto- I wish I spoke moon, I wish the bottom of the ocean were sitting in that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-hicok/in-other-languages-you-are-beautiful-mort-muerto-i-wish-i-spoke-moon/) [Bob Hicok](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-hicok/) > [Furiously and gorgeously write your ass off.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-hicok/furiously-and-gorgeously-write-your-ass-off/) [Bob Hicok](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-hicok/) > [“My life the only thing that has been with me my whole life”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-hicok/my-life-the-only-thing-that-has-been-with-me-my-whole-life/) [Bob Hicok](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-hicok/) > [“Making it in poetry The young teller at the credit union asked why so many small checks from universities? 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The rivers of my palms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-hicok/other-lives-and-dimensions-and-finally-a-love-poem-my-left-hand-will/) [Bob Hicok](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-hicok/) [Explore all 19 Bob Hicok quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-hicok/) ## More Communication quotes > [Some people still believe you should just fall in line with what's going on - and that's scary. 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The bad poet harangues at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-r-delany/a-poet-is-wounded-into-speech-and-he-examines-these-wounds/) [Samuel R. Delany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-r-delany/) > [“To engage in dialogue is to serve others via whatever is real inside you; to engage in debate is to ultimately serve the illusions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oli-anderson/to-engage-in-dialogue-is-to-serve-others-via-whatever-is-real-inside/) [Oli Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oli-anderson/) > [What it comes down to for me is this: Will the technologies of communication in our culture, serve to enlighten us and help us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-waters/what-it-comes-down-to-for-me-is-this-will-the-technologies-of/) [Roger Waters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-waters/) > [In dialogue, there is opposition, yes, but no head-on collision. 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First by the womb, then the word traveled fast and free of lips, now your hips can thrive in my brain without entering my life. I might as well be on the moon. The evolution of communication’s to mythologize togetherness as we drift entropically apart. That’s what the kids call a thesis statement. But god you’re hot, and your crescendo of breath so fully apes the real deal, is it possible we can be islanded and still come to prefer absence to presence, the digital to the palpable? I fear the question answers itself by nodding to the fact that I can write a poem and you read it with no hand having touched metal or paper or words that don’t dissolve as soon as a switch is thrown. Half of my soul says, Get used to it. 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