“I don't know where I end and the world begins. My best guess? Skin. It's the only actual boundary between the body and the world, between a body and any other body.” KnowsWorldEndsBodySkinsBoundaries Author:Richard Siken
“Knot the tie and go to work, unknot the tie and go to sleep. I sleep. I dream. I wake. I sing. I get out the hammer and start knocking in the wooden pegs that affix the meaning to the landscape, the inner life to the body, the names to the things. I float too much to wander, like you, in the real world. I envy it but that’s the dealio—you’re a train and I’m a trainstation and when I try to guess your trajectory I end up telling my own story.” WorldTryingRealEndsStoriesDreamBodyNamesMy OwnSleepToo MuchLike YouTrainEnvyWanderLandscapeTiesReal WorldFloatsHammersGoing To SleepInner LifeKnockingKnotsTrajectoryPeg Author:Richard Siken
“I’ve been rereading your story. I think it’s about me in a way that might not be flattering, but that’s okay. We dream and dream of being seen as we really are and then finally someone looks at us and sees us truly and we fail to measure up. Anyway: story received, story included. You looked at me long enough to see something mysterioso under all the gruff and bluster. Thanks. Sometimes you get so close to someone you end up on the other side of them.” ThinkingWayLooksLongEndsSometimesEnoughStoriesDreamMightSidesFailingOkayThanksFlatteringRereadingBluster Author:Richard Siken
“This is where the evening splits in half, Henry, love or death. Grab an end, pull hard, and make a wish.” EndsHardWishHalfEveningSplitsMake A Wish Author:Richard Siken
“This is my favorite part. It starts and ends here. The pebbles shine, the plan worked, Hansel Triumphant. Lesson number one: be sneaky and have a plan. But the stupid boy goes back, makes the rest of the story postscript and aftermath. He shouldn’t have gone back. And this is the second lesson I took from the story: when someone is trying to ditch you, kill you, never go back.” TryingEndsStoriesNumbersBoysGonePlansStupidLessonsShiningMy FavoriteTriumphantAftermathPebblesSneaky Author:Richard Siken
“I swear, I end up feeling empty, like you've taken something out of me and I have to search my body for scars.” EndsFeelingsBodyTakenLike YouEmptyScarSwearFeeling Empty Author:Richard Siken
“Sometimes you get so close to someone you end up on the other side of them.” EndsSometimesSidesBluster Author:Richard Siken
