6/3/2023 0 Comments Siken poetry![]() ‘ Paint all the men you want but sooner or To make something / beautiful should be enough.’ Through this collection, whatever depth of abstract reality and human anxiety he may probe, Siken proves that, yes, the beauty is enough. ‘ The paint doesn't move the way the light reflects, / so what's there to be faithful to? he asks as his opening lines of the collection in The Way Light Reflects about the frailty of art to capture life, ‘ it should be enough. With superb imagery and ideas that frequently use the moon, ghosts and the number zero to open the gateways of thought, Siken looks at the inevitability of death, our destructive tendencies, our desire to create and the solipsism surrounding that impluse. This collection expertly straddles emotional resonance and academic musings, while blending the aesthetics of poetry with painting and theoretical mathematics across works that employ painting as metaphor for existential examinations and ekphrastic poems. War of the Foxes, Siken’s second collection after a 10 year gap, is a minor masterpiece that is a feast for the mind and heart to untangle the philosophical quandaries, profuse self-doubt and abstract beauty that culminate in these breathtaking poems. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() If existential anxiety wrote poetry, I suspect it would read a lot like Richard Siken. ‘ I turned / the image over like a rock, but then the worms.’ ![]()
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