richard siken

i've always been very interested in poetry. my favourite poet has got to be richard siken. his book crush won the 2004 yale series of younger poets prize and he released another book titled war of the foxes just last year. i decided to go to kinokuniya to treat myself and bought both of his books since most of the poems in the book are not available in full on the internet.



i decided to read crush first. my favourite siken poem is called little beast, which i have attached below. i find his poems sort of fast paced and very effortless. recurring themes in his poems are panic, obsession, love and lust.

my favourite part of the poem is the last verse, more specifically the last few lines. "Sorry about the blood in your mouth. I wish it was mine. I couldn't get the boy to kill me, but I wore his jacket for the longest time." there's just something haunting and achingly desperate about it.