We laugh & it pits the world against us. Richard Siken More Quotes by Richard Siken More Quotes From Richard Siken Sorry 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 Siken sorry boys blood Imagine that the world is made out of love. Now imagine that it isn’t. 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 don’t, they’ll 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 Siken wall pain evil When you have nothing to say, Richard Siken fire I never liked that ending either. More love streaming out the wrong way, and I don't want to be the kind that says the wrong way. But it doesn't work, these erasures, this constant refolding of the pleats. There were some nice parts, sure, all lemondrop and mellonball, laughing in silk pajamas and the grain of sugar on the toast, love love or whatever, take a number. I'm sorry it's such a lousy story. Richard Siken nice sorry numbers I'm battling monsters, I'm pulling you out of the burning buildings/ and you say I'll give you anything but you never come through. Richard Siken burning monsters giving Tell me about the dream where we pull the bodies out of the lake and dress them in warm clothes again. Richard Siken clothes lakes dream The entire history of human desire takes about seventy minutes to tell. Unfortunately, we don’t have that kind of time. Richard Siken minutes kind desire Tell me we're dead and I'll love you even more. Richard Siken love-you You’re falling now. You’re swimming. This is not harmless. You are not breathing. Richard Siken breathing swimming fall Fairy tales have rules. You are a princess or you aren’t. You are pure at heart or you aren’t. If you are pure at heart, or lucky, you might catch a break. Richard Siken princess lucky heart Who am I? I'm just a writer. I write things down. I walk through your dreams and invent the future. Sure, I sink the boat of love, but that comes later. And yes, I swallow glass, but that comes later. Richard Siken glasses dream writing Here is the repeated image of the lover destroyed. Richard Siken destroyed crush lovers Here I am leaving you clues. I am singing now while Rome burns. We are all just trying to be holy. My applejack, my silent night, just mash your lips against me. We are all going forward. None of us are going back. Richard Siken rome here-i-am night Do we simply stare at what is horrible and forgive it? Richard Siken staring horrible forgiving You are playing cards with three Jeffs. One is your father, one is your brother, and the other is your current boyfriend. All of them have seen you naked and heard you talking in your sleep. Your boyfriend Jeff gets up to answer the phone. To them he is a mirror, but to you he is a room. Richard Siken brother sleep father I am singing now while Rome burns. Richard Siken rome singing I 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 it’s summer, so it’s suicide, so we’re helpless in sleep and struggling at the bottom of the pool. Richard Siken suicide summer beautiful I wouldn’t kill your pony. I’d like to believe it, anyway. I’d like to believe I wouldn’t drag you out in to the woods and leave you there, either. So far, it hasn’t come up. Richard Siken ponies woods believe The narrator blames the birds. And you want to blame the birds as well. I blamed the birds for a long time. But in this story everyone is hungry, even the birds. And at this point in the story so many things have gone wrong, so many bad decisions made, that it’s a wonder anyone would want to continue reading. Richard Siken reading bird long A kid under a tablecloth insists he’s a ghost. A table underneath a tablecloth is, I guess, like the rest of us, only pretending to be invisible. Richard Siken tables ghost kids