Not to exaggerate or anything, but Richard Siken has to be one of the best poets of the modern age. Louise Glück (!!!) wrote the introduction for his debut book, Crush, so I’ll let that speak for itself. Siken’s work is alluring and haunting and it entranced me from the moment I first read his poetry. His words have a wonderful tendency to leave holes in your heart and leave you breathless. I also appreciate his philosophies on his poetry and art.
During a reading at Texas State University, Siken opens up about his creative process, saying that the poet isn’t necessarily the narrator and that sometimes, finding the meaning of a poem is secondary to understanding what the poem “enacts” and “evokes.” You may not know what the exact meaning is but his utter rawness still leaves you reeling and besides. I enjoy that there are more unanswered questions than not. It makes everything much more compelling. He currently has two published poetry books and I’ll just take a moment of your time to gush about each of them:
Crush
Siken’s first book was published in 2005 after winning the Yale Series of Younger Poets,the oldest annual literary award in the United States, in 2004. Written because of the death of his boyfriend in 1991, Crush is a beautiful book about terrible, tragic things. It is divided into three parts and each part relays a love story gone wrong which subsequently follows a turmoil of emotions. It is a car crash disaster that you cannot look away from. It’s haunting. It’s violent and cruel; there’s nothing we can do about it, but we wouldn’t want it any other way. If I were to convey my appreciation for this fine work of art in a more refined and eloquent statement it would be this: I love this book of poetry so much and I don’t know how to deal with it.War of the Foxes
I was a bit of an idiot when I first read this one and by that I mean that I was expecting some sort of companion that directly paralleled the grim nature of Crush, not realizing that there is a decade age gap between the two books and that hey, there is a thing called change. On the off chance you’re wondering, there isn’t a particular book I’d recommended reading first over the other. I would just advise to keep in mind that these books are separate works of art.
Although in an interview with Tin House, Siken mentions particular motifs that are prevalent in both books, one isn’t a prequel or a sequel for the other. This time around, Siken is more introspective and contemplative as he explores his identity as both writer and painter through questioning everything about man, art and nature and how it all intertwines. He wonders about humanity’s need to create, writes about how paint and light juxtapose each other and ponders if to art is human or vice versa. “Color bleeds, so make it work for you,” he says—which parallels a line in Crush which goes, “here’s the pencil, make it work.”
Siken unrelentingly searches for answers that he’ll know won’t have a concrete answer while questioning his abilities as an artist and how his identity, and the reader's, fits into the equation.
Have I piqued your interest? If I somehow managed to, here are a selection of some of my favorite poems that are accessible online: Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out, Little Beast, The Language of the Birds, Landscape with a Blur of Conquerors and War of the Foxes—this one comes with an audio recording which I highly recommend.
Read it and weep.
