Scheherazade
Tell me about the dream where we pull the bodies out of the lake and dress them in warm clothes again. […]
closebits
Road Music
1 The eye stretches to the horizon and then must continue up. […]
Richard Siken Q&A hearing a poem and reading a poem
Richard Siken talks about the difference between reading a poem, hearing a poem, and voicing a poem out loud.
Richard Siken Q&A on the genesis of his poem “War of the Foxes”
Richard Siken talks about the genesis of his poem “War of the Foxes.”
Masqualéro
—after Miles There’s plenty that think we’re twins. By 18 we’d both wished secretly that it was true, & that it wasn’t. Since we were 9 we met here on stealth banks of August, each year another savior & sweet thanks be to Jesus for that old row boat. Remember my instructions when we met? […]
Isatine Blues
“Why? It don’t matter why.” —Billie Holiday, “Deep Song” Don’t sing it to me. Or I’ll stay under here motionless & blue gilled. I’ll drift away from the shattered place of irruption. Where the summer song crossed the winter street, the corner where we met. & don’t worry about me, I’ll stick close to pockets […]
Sweat
i The ceiling moved & woke you. The night gave none of the heat away. Beads of sweat inch & run slopes of skin. You ask yourself, what about the hard work? Before you knew what easy pain becomes, you thought hard work had to hurt. A stack of sixteen pound block on the wall […]
Lessons Unlearned
Remember what you want to Bobby, no one taught crawfish to open pinchers into open air when dropped from the railing. No one taught the howl in my belly when you & Todd marched them across noonday traffic on the Division Street bridge. No one taught real secrets like how payback runs crazy, yellow jackets […]