A review by starryaqua
Crush by Richard Siken

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

 "We pull our boots on with both hands
but we can't punch ourselves awake and all I can do
is stand on the curb and say 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."

"And the boy who loves you the wrong way is filthy.
And the boy who loves you the wrong way keeps weakening.
You thought if you handed over your body
he'd do something interesting."

What an absolute gut-punch of a collection. I knew this was going to hurt after reading a couple of poems by themselves, but oh, wow. Siken's mastery of reaching in and scooping out the most rough and raw parts of himself sucks the reader in, and begs them to ache as he does. He paints a vivid image of growing up as a young boy, bumbling around and messy, in a world where everything he is had to be hidden away. Violence and love tangle together into a terrifyingly human depiction of desire. The need to want and be wanted. A beautifully crafted depiction of male queer yearning.