The light is no mystery, the mystery is that there is something to keep the light from passing through.
Richard SikenA man takes his sadness down to the river and throws it in the river but then he’s still left with the river. A man takes his sadness and throws it away but then he’s still left with his hands.
Richard SikenEverything affects my poetry, every day something happens that changes me forever. I’m susceptible and plastic, thin-skinned and moody.
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 SikenFor a while I thought I was the dragon. I guess I can tell you that now. And, for a while, I thought I was the princess, cotton candy pink, sitting there in my room, in the tower of the castle, young and beautiful and in love and waiting for you with confidence but the princess looks into her mirror and only sees the princess, while I’m out here, slogging through the mud, breathing fire, and getting stabbed to death. Okay, so I’m the dragon. Big deal. You still get to be the hero. You get magic gloves! A fish that talks! You get eyes like flashlights!
Richard Siken