hereistheend's review
3.0
coming to this with crush in mind was an awful idea, even after i had read interviews with siken over how different the books are. he's not wrong! he has this way of ~telling~ so many visuals and strange stories, without the emotional punch to the gut of crush. and i suppose that's what i value most about poetry- if i'm not feeling, it's too hard to care. having said that, the symbolism, folklore, visuals are beautiful and insightful, so i did enjoy this. his mind is amazing. and i couldn't stop thinking about how perfect the cover was.
spaghettii's review
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Richard Siken my beloved,, I pirated this book,, forgive me
emsemsems's review
3.0
It was okay, but I think the longer poems lost me a little. The shorter, more simple ones got to me more. In terms of literary techniques and all that - it may not be the most brilliant of the lot - but like looking at an artwork/painting - I don't know why I like it yet (and maybe I won't ever know); I just know that I do right now.
“THE MUSEUM
Two lovers went to the museum and wandered the
rooms. He saw a painting and stood in front of it
for too long. It was a few minutes before she
realised he had gotten stuck. He was stuck looking
at a painting. She stood next to him, looking at his
face and then the face in the painting. What do you
see? she asked. I don’t know, he said. He didn’t
know. She was disappointed, then bored. He was
looking at a face and she was looking at her watch.
This is where everything changed. There was now
a distance between them. He was looking at a face
but it might as well have been a cabbage or a
sugar beet. Perhaps it was something about yellow
near pink. He didn’t know how to say it. Years later
he still didn’t know how to say it, and she was gone.”
'The Museum' is pretty much just a scene in a museum. The language/diction is so simple that a child could even read it out loud effortlessly. But there's just something so poignant about it - and I thought about it more than the rest of the poems after I'd finished reading the whole collection.
“TURPENTINE
It is too heavy, says the canvas. You lack restraint.
I was sleeping in whiteness, drifts of snow,
and you woke me and told me your dream, my blank
face upturned, listening. You came to me while we
were sleeping, we were both sleeping, and you asked me
to hold this for you. I am holding this for you.”
I like 'Turpentine' very much too. It feels - somewhat unfinished, but I think that suits it for what it is. I think short poems are harder to compose in comparison to longer ones - but that's just my personal opinion. I enjoyed this poem a lot.
There's one poem that I feel a bit conflicted about, and that is : 'War of the Foxes' (which I like to think that the poet had liked best? since he had used it for the title of his collection/book). Although there are a couple of strong stanzas in the poem, as a whole/complete poem - it felt a bit 'loose' to me.
“THE MUSEUM
Two lovers went to the museum and wandered the
rooms. He saw a painting and stood in front of it
for too long. It was a few minutes before she
realised he had gotten stuck. He was stuck looking
at a painting. She stood next to him, looking at his
face and then the face in the painting. What do you
see? she asked. I don’t know, he said. He didn’t
know. She was disappointed, then bored. He was
looking at a face and she was looking at her watch.
This is where everything changed. There was now
a distance between them. He was looking at a face
but it might as well have been a cabbage or a
sugar beet. Perhaps it was something about yellow
near pink. He didn’t know how to say it. Years later
he still didn’t know how to say it, and she was gone.”
'The Museum' is pretty much just a scene in a museum. The language/diction is so simple that a child could even read it out loud effortlessly. But there's just something so poignant about it - and I thought about it more than the rest of the poems after I'd finished reading the whole collection.
“TURPENTINE
It is too heavy, says the canvas. You lack restraint.
I was sleeping in whiteness, drifts of snow,
and you woke me and told me your dream, my blank
face upturned, listening. You came to me while we
were sleeping, we were both sleeping, and you asked me
to hold this for you. I am holding this for you.”
I like 'Turpentine' very much too. It feels - somewhat unfinished, but I think that suits it for what it is. I think short poems are harder to compose in comparison to longer ones - but that's just my personal opinion. I enjoyed this poem a lot.
There's one poem that I feel a bit conflicted about, and that is : 'War of the Foxes' (which I like to think that the poet had liked best? since he had used it for the title of his collection/book). Although there are a couple of strong stanzas in the poem, as a whole/complete poem - it felt a bit 'loose' to me.
jexjthomas's review
4.0
It can be difficult to write compelling about the act of writing. Here, Richard Siken does so beautifully by writing about painting instead. This is an incredible, complicated interrogation of the act of creation and the search for truth. A fitting and occasionally brutal follow up to Crush.