Crush (Richard Siken)

Crush is a collection of poetry by American poet Richard Siken, published in 2005 by Yale University Press as the winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition. The collection explores themes of love, loss, violence, desire, and the complexities of human relationships, often through a lens of queer experience and trauma. Siken's poetry is characterized by its fragmented structure, intense emotionality, surreal imagery, and raw, unflinching language.

The poems in Crush often depict relationships as volatile and destructive, marked by a sense of urgency and desperation. The speaker in many of the poems grapples with feelings of inadequacy, obsession, and the fear of abandonment. The collection's exploration of desire is often intertwined with themes of violence, both physical and emotional, blurring the lines between pleasure and pain.

Key themes and motifs explored in Crush include:

• Love and Obsession: The poems often depict love as an all-consuming force, bordering on obsession. Characters are driven by a desperate need for connection, leading to destructive patterns and unhealthy relationships.

• Violence and Trauma: Crush confronts the lingering effects of trauma, often suggesting past experiences of abuse and violence that shape the speaker's present-day anxieties and behaviors.

• Identity and Sexuality: The poems explore the complexities of queer identity, touching upon themes of self-acceptance, internalized homophobia, and the search for belonging within a heteronormative society.

• Language and Communication: The fragmented and often contradictory language used in Siken's poetry reflects the difficulty of articulating complex emotions and experiences. The poems highlight the limitations of language to fully capture the intensity of human feeling.

• Mortality and the Fleeting Nature of Time: A sense of urgency permeates the collection, suggesting a constant awareness of mortality and the ephemeral nature of happiness. The poems often express a desire to seize the moment and fully experience life, even in the face of inevitable pain.

Significant poems within the collection include "Little Beast," "Scheherazade," "Saying Your Names," "Snow and Dirty Rain," and "The Dislocated Room." Crush has been praised for its emotional honesty, its innovative use of language, and its unflinching exploration of complex themes. It has become a significant work in contemporary poetry, resonating with readers who connect with its raw and vulnerable portrayal of the human condition.