Imagine that the world is made out of love. Now imagine that it isnโt. Imagine a story where everything goes wrong, where everyone has their back against the wall, where everyone is in pain and acting selfishly because if they donโt, theyโll die. Imagine a story, not of good against evil, but of need against need against need, where everyone is at cross-purposes and everyone is to blame.
Richard SikenI don't know where I end and the world begins. My best guess? Skin. It's the only actual boundary between the body and the world, between a body and any other body.
Richard SikenIโve been rereading your story. I think itโs about me in a way that might not be flattering, but thatโs okay. We dream and dream of being seen as we really are and then finally someone looks at us and sees us truly and we fail to measure up. Anyway: story received, story included. You looked at me long enough to see something mysterioso under all the gruff and bluster. Thanks. Sometimes you get so close to someone you end up on the other side of them.
Richard SikenAll night I streched my arms across him, rivers of blood, the dark woods, singing with all my skin and bone ''Please keep him safe. Let him lay his head on my chest and we will be like sailors, swimming in the sound of it, dashed to pieces.'' Makes a cathedral, him pressing against me, his lips at my neck, and yes, I do believe his mouth is heaven, his kisses falling over me like stars.
Richard SikenThis is where the evening splits in half, Henry, love or death. Grab an end, pull hard, and make a wish.
Richard SikenEventually something you love is going to be taken away. And then you will fall to the floor crying. And then, however much later, it is finally happening to you: youโre falling to the floor crying thinking, โI am falling to the floor crying,โ but thereโs an element of the ridiculous to it โ you knew it would happen and, even worse, while youโre on the floor crying you look at the place where the wall meets the floor and you realize you didnโt paint it very well.
Richard Siken