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“And the gentleness that comes,
not from the absence of violence, but despite
the abundance of it.”
― Richard Siken, Crush

“Oh, the things we invent when we are scared
and want to be rescued.”
― Richard Siken, Crush

“For a while I thought I was the dragon.
I guess I can tell you that now. And, for a while, I thought I was
the princess,
cotton candy pink, sitting there in my room, in the tower of the castle,
young and beautiful and in love and waiting for you with
confidence
but the princess looks into her mirror and only sees the princess,
while I’m out here, slogging through the mud, breathing fire,
and getting stabbed to death.
Okay, so I’m the dragon. Big deal.
You still get to be the hero.
You get magic gloves! A fish that talks! You get eyes like flashlights!”
― Richard Siken, Crush

“how we rolled up the carpet so we could dance, and the days were bright red, and every time we kissed there was another
apple
to slice into pieces.
Look at the light through the windowpane. That means it's noon,
that means
we're inconsolable.
Tell me how all this, and love too, will ruin us.
These our bodies, possessed by light.
Tell me we'll never get used to it.”
― Richard Siken