I'm saying your name in the grocery store, I'm saying your name on the bridge at dawn. Your name like an animal covered with frost, your name like a music that's been transposed, a suit of fur, a coat of mud, a kick in the pants, a lungful of glass, the sails in wind and the slap of waves on the hull.
Richard SikenTell me how all this, and love too, will ruin us. These, our bodies, possessed by light. Tell me we'll never get used to it.
Richard SikenI wanted to be wanted and he was very beautiful, kissed with his eyes closed, and only felt good while moving. You could drown in those eyes, I said, so itโs summer, so itโs suicide, so weโre helpless in sleep and struggling at the bottom of the pool.
Richard SikenSorry 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.
Richard SikenYouโre falling now. Youโre swimming. This is not โโโโโโโโโโharmless. You are not โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโbreathing.
Richard SikenThis is my favorite part. It starts and ends here. The pebbles shine, the plan worked, Hansel Triumphant. Lesson number one: be sneaky and have a plan. But the stupid boy goes back, makes the rest of the story postscript and aftermath. He shouldnโt have gone back. And this is the second lesson I took from the story: when someone is trying to ditch you, kill you, never go back.
Richard Siken