(no subject)

[zagzagael.livejournal.com]

Richard Siken has broken my heart open. His gift, his voice, is outrageous, his sadness deeper than any dark waters, his desire for joy overwhelming. Here is one stanza....



21
Hold onto your voice. Hold onto your 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. This could be a city. This could be a
graveyard. This could be the basket of a big balloon. Leave the lights
on. Leave a trail of letters like those little knots of bread we used to
dream about. We used to dream about them. We used to do a lot of
things. Put your hand to the knob, your mouth to the hand, pick up the
bread and devour it. I'm in the hallway again, I'm in the hallway. The
radio's playing my favorite song. Leave the lights on. Keep talking. I'll
keep walking toward the sound of your voice.

Comments

[mijeli.livejournal.com]

I know (or think to know) how you feel. It's why his words are on my wall and make me choke every time my gaze falls on them.

Thank you for sharing this piece!

[zagzagael.livejournal.com]

What words of his do you have on your wall?

[mijeli.livejournal.com]

"The Problem". Are you familiar with it? If not, this is it (http://aliceinslaughterhouse.tumblr.com/post/2803785610/and-just-because-you-want-to-paint-a-bird-do). It affects me every single time I read it.

[zagzagael.livejournal.com]

Is that your blog? Cuz....damn. *worships*

And yes, I like "that" Siken...but "this" Siken...I love.

[mijeli.livejournal.com]

Yes it is :) Well, not so much a blog, but a collection of literary and visual snippets that matter to me, or at least startled me with their beauty. (And I pick up a lot of quotes from greatpoets!)

Oh my, at the risk of asking a dumb question - what's the difference between the two?

[zagzagael.livejournal.com]

It's very very nice!

That piece just isn't visceral enough? *shrug* It's nice, it feels a bit dry.

[mijeli.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm glad you like it!

Hm, okay, I think I understand. Only I often take to the "dry" poetry :) I prefer abstract to the very personal.

[zagzagael.livejournal.com]

Heh, perfect icon marriage there. You amuse me deeply, new friend.

It is interesting how poetry speaks to different parts of different readers. I tend to resonate with lines that hum in the brain - I will
come back from the dead for you.

I was born to hustle roses down the avenues of the dead

That kind of thing...That's why your blog/collection is knocking me out. And Cave, of course....Words that act as weapons, words that cut through the gristle.

[mijeli.livejournal.com]

Ha, thought so. This one's much too easy..but oh well.

It is, very much. But what hums in my brain is what makes me think rather than feel. Puzzle.
he is looking at his heart, which is impossible, unless his heart is a metaphor for his heart, as everything is a metaphor for itself - I love these lines that aren't as much personal as they are generally applicable knowledge. If you want to call it "knowledge" ;)

But the appeal is just so different. Siken seems such an honest poet, it's hard to love one side of his work and not the other. (I recently got my hands on "Crush", and it's actually much more like the one you posted.)
So it's knocking you out because it's different to what you usually react to?

YES. I can't grasp how Cave, despite achieving such fame, remains so authentic.

[zagzagael.livejournal.com]

Interesting statement about "feeling versus thinking". I'm thinking about it right now!

So...do you feel that Grinderman is still Cave remaining authentic?

[mijeli.livejournal.com]

(Oh, and I love this icon. Is it Dalí or only reminds me of him?)

I actually think yes. But that might be because it took me fairly long to enjoy Grinderman ;) (and I still don't enjoy all of it.) If something's edgy, I'm much more inclined to say it's true. But it -sounds- authentic to me - the intellectual sarcasm of a man who has rebelled against so much in his past; performed without any romantic wrapping.

What are your thoughts?

[zagzagael.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[drabheathen.livejournal.com]

As says Hazrat Inayat Khan, "God breaks the heart again and again and again until it stays open"...

[bubblingbeebles.livejournal.com]

my goodness, that is quite the quote.

[teithiwr.livejournal.com]

Wow, yes.

[zagzagael.livejournal.com]

THAT is gorgeous - thank you so much for sharing it!!

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

My god. Where is this from?

[zagzagael.livejournal.com]

I know...I know...

"Tell 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 Siken (Crush)


http://richardsiken.blogspot.com/

[vibekiil.livejournal.com]

That particular line made me lose my heart to Siken's poetry.
I subsequently introduced a friend to "Crush", and that line - again - won another one over.
A very good friend's boyfriend borrowed my copy of "Crush" and read that poem over and over again. Another one won over.

There is much power in Siken's poetry. There is much power in that opening poem "Scheherazade". There is much power in that line.
I've read it a million time (give or take...), and it stille gets to me.