Summary:Richard Siken’s Crush, selected as the 2004 winner of the Yale Younger Poets prize, is a powerful collection of poems driven by obsession and love. Siken writes with ferocity, and his reader hurtles unstoppably with him. His poetry is confessional, gay, savage, and charged with violent eroticism. In the world of American poetry, Siken's voice is striking.
In her introduction to the book, competition judge Louise Glück hails the “cumulative, driving, apocalyptic power, [and] purgatorial recklessness” of Siken’s poems. She notes, “Books of this kind dream big. . . . They restore to poetry that sense of crucial moment and crucial utterance which may indeed be the great genius of the form.” (from GoodReads)
Review:
So I am not a big poetry person at all. I even shy away from books written in verse. But, surprisingly, I really enjoyed this book of poems, entitled Crush.
Richard Siken is an amazing writer and he brings so much emotion to his poems. They are mostly about love and his relationship and the imagery he uses is so effective. It was like I was there with him, and feeling the same emotions. It's all very visceral and tragic but even so it was beautiful to read.
Even if you're not a huge fan of poetry I would definitely recommend this book. You can even read some of his poem's online to see if you like his style. I'm sure it won't be everyone's cup of tea but at least give it a chance.
Rating: 8 out of 10.
FTC: purchased.
2005/Yale University Press/80 pages.
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