Quotes from Richard Siken

You thought if you handed over your body he'd do something interesting.

Every morning the same big and little words all spelling out desire, all spelling out You will be alone always and then you will die .

So maybe I wanted to give you something more than a catalog of non-definitive acts, something other than the desperation.

Here are your names and here is the list and here are the things you left behind

To them he is a mirror, but to you he is a room.

Sure, I sink the boat of love, but that comes later. And yes, I swallow glass, but that comes later.

You do this, you do. You take the things you love and tear them apart or you pin them down with your body and pretend they're yours.

This is where he trots out his sadness. Little black cloud, little black umbrella.

You could drown in those eyes

I said kiss me here and here and here and you did.

And you play along because it's funny, because it's written down, you've memorized it, it's all you know. I say the phrases that keep it all going, and everybody plays along.

and everyone's watching, everyone's curious, everyone's holding their breath.

Don't make a noise, don't leave the room until I come back from the dead for you. I will come back from the dead for you.

Do we simply stare at what is horrible and forgive it? Here is the river, and here is the box, and here are the monsters we put in the box to test our strength against. Here is the cake, and here is the fork, and here's the desire to put it inside us, and then the question behind every question: What happens next?

When he throws the wrench into the air it will catch the light as it spins toward you. Look—it looks like a star.

This time everyone has the best intentions. You have cancer.

Let's say that God is the space between two men and the Devil is the space between two men.

a big band sound that makes you feel like everything's okay, a feeling that lasts for one song maybe, the parentheses all clicking shut behind you.

A stone on the path means the tea's not ready, a stone in the hand means somebody's angry, the stone inside you still hasn't hit bottom.

Here is my hand, my heart, my throat, my wrist. Here are the illuminated cities at the center of me, and here is the center of me, which is a lake, which is a well that we can drink from, but I can't go through with it. I just don't want to die anymore.

I went to the riverbed to wait for you to show up. You didn't show up. I kept waiting.

What is a ghost? Something dead that seems to be alive. Something dead that doesn't know it's dead.

Here you are on the TV, saying Watch me, just watch me.

the way he pulled his body in, out of shyness or shame or a desire not to disturb the air around him.