Richard Siken

Richard Siken [David Shankbone]

from Richard Siken's War of the Foxes:

Detail of the Woods

I looked at all the trees and didn’t know what to do.

A box made out of leaves.
What else was in the woods? A heart, closing. Nevertheless.

Everyone needs a place. It shouldn’t be inside of someone else.
I kept my mind on the moon. Cold moon, long nights moon.

From the landscape: a sense of scale.
From the dead: a sense of scale.

I turned my back on the story. A sense of superiority.
Everything casts a shadow.

Your body told me in a dream it’s never been afraid of anything.


Detail of the Hayfield

I followed myself for a long while, deep into the field.

Two heads full of garbage.

Our scope was larger than I realized,

which only made me that much more responsible.

Yellow, yellow, gold, and ocher.

We stopped. We held the field. We stood very still.

Everyone needs a place.

You need it for the moment you need it, then you bless it—

thank you soup, thank you flashlight —

and move on. Who does this? No one.