RICHARD SIKEN SENTENCE STARTERS [EXTENDED]
â So I really liked the original meme here, so much that I ended up buying the poetâs book Crush to read.Â
Inspiration hit and here are 79 lines, categorized by poem. Feel free to change pronouns and any names!
âTell me about the dream where we pull the bodies out of the lake and dress them in warm clothes again.â
âLook at the light through the windowpane. That means itâs noon, that means weâre inconsolable.â
âTell me how all this, and love too, will ruin us.â
âTell me weâll never get used to it.â
âThereâs a part in the movie where you can see right through the acting, where you can tell that Iâm about to burst into tears.â
âI swallow your heart and it crawls right out of my mouth.â
âYou swallow my heart and flee, but I want it back now, baby. I want it back.â
âIâm sorry. We know how it works. The world is no longer mysterious.â
âI like him and I want to be like him, my hands no longer an afterthought.â
âSomeone once told me than explaining is an admission of failure.â
âIâm sure you remember, I was on the phone with you, sweetheart.â
âHistory repeats itself.â
âThere are many names in history but none of them are ours.â
âYou could drown in those eyes, I said.â
âBut damn if there isnât anything sexier than a slender boy with a handgun, a fast car, a bottle of pills.â
âWhat would you like? Iâd like my moneyâs worth.â
âSorry about the blood in your mouth. I wish it was mine.â Â Â
âI couldnât get the boy to kill me, but I wore his jacket for the longest time.â
âTell me you love this, tell me youâre not miserable.â
âYou do the math, you expect the trouble.â
âDraw a circle with a piece of chalk. Imagine standing in a constant cone of light. Imagine surrender. Imagine being useless.â
âA stone on the path means the teaâs not ready, a stone in the hand means somebodyâs angry.â
âThe stone inside you still hasnât hit bottom.â
âThere is no way to make this story interesting.â
âI want to tell you this story without having to confess anything, without having to say that I ran out into the street to prove something.â
âTell me weâre dead and Iâll love you even more.â
âAnd he knew it wasnât going to be okay, and he told me it wasnât going to be okay.â
âBut the minutes donât stop.â
âAnd words, little words, words too small for any hope or promise, not really soothing but soothing nonetheless.â
LITANY IN WHICH CERTAIN THINGS ARE CROSSED OUT
âYou will be alone always and then you will die.â
âSo maybe I wanted to give you something more than a catalog of non-definitive acts, something other than the desperation.â
âIâm sorry I came to your party and seduced you and left you bruised and ruined, you poor sad thing.â
âYou want a better story. Who wouldnât?â
âI can tell you already think Iâm the dragon, that would be so like me, but Iâm not. Iâm not the dragon. Iâm not the princess either.â
âWho am I? Iâm just a writer. I write things down. I walk through your dreams and invent the future.â
âAnd yes, I swallow glass, but that comes later.â
âShut up. Iâm getting to it.â
âFor a while I thought I was the dragon.â
âOkay, so Iâm the dragon. Big deal.â
âYou still get to be the hero.â
âWhat more do you want?â
âAre you there, sweetheart? Do you know me?â
âHere is the repeated image of the lover destroyed.â
âThere is something underneath the floorboards.â
âI arrived in the city and you met me at the station, smiling in a way that made me frightened.â
âThis doesnât look that much different from home.â
âLove, for you, is more than the usual romantic love. Itâs like a religion. Itâs terrifying.â
âOkay, if youâre so great, you do itââ
âUnfortunately, we donât have that kind of time.â
âI have told you where Iâm coming from, so put it together.â
âWhen I say this, it should mean laughter, not poison.â
A PRIMER FOR THE SMALL WEIRD LOVES
âAnd you know that a boy who likes boys is a dead boy, unless he keeps his mouth shut, which is what you didnât do.â
âBecause you are weak and hollow and it doesnât matter anymore.â
âAnd the boy who loves you the wrong way is filthy.â
âHe wants to be tender and merciful.â
âHe meaning you.â
âDo you love yourself?â
âI donât have to answer that.â
âIt should matter.â
âI donât think I can take this much longer.â
âIn the dream I donât tell anyone, you put your head in my lap.â
âIn these dreams itâs always you: the boy in the sweatshirt, the boy on the bridge, the boy who always keeps me from jumping off the bridge.â
âOh, the things we invent when we are scared and want to be rescued.â
âI borrowed your shoes and didnât put them away.â
âYou didnât show up. I kept waiting.â
âYou have a cold cold smile.â
âWatch me, just watch me.â
âI swallowed crushed ice pretending it was glass.â
âI donât really blame you for being dead but you canât have your sweater back.â
âYou can sleep now, you said. You said that. I had a dream where you said that. Thanks for saying that. You werenât supposed to.â
âAnd you play along, because you want to die for love, you always have.â
âYou saved my life. I owe you, I owe you everything.â
âLetâs not talk about it, letâs just not talk.â
âDonât bother. You never mean it anyway, not really, and it only makes me that much more ashamed.â
âPlease, for just one night, will you lie down next to me, we can leave our clothes on, we can stay all buttoned upâŚâ
âDo you see what I mean? Do you see what Iâm getting at?â
âIf you love me, _____ , you donât love me in a way I understand.â
âDo you want to go home now?â