A Piece by Richard Siken, for the day...

A Prose Poem...

Back when I was in Tucson, Richard Siken was around. Sometimes he was writing, other times he was working, but he was always intriguing.

Lately I’ve been talking about essays, because I love the possibility of a very direct conversation with a reader, with the world. Siken is a poet, and this is published as a poem, but to me it is also a compressed and cool essay…where are the lines between essays and poetry? Better questions—where and what are the possibilities?

I love this—

Real Estate

BY RICHARD SIKEN

My mother married a man who divorced her for money. Phyllis, he would say, If you don’t stop buying jewelry, I will have to divorce you to keep us out of the poorhouse. When he said this, she would stub out a cigarette, mutter something under her breath. Eventually, he was forced to divorce her. Then, he died. Then she did. The man was not my father. My father was buried down the road, in a box his other son selected, the ashes of his third wife in a brass urn that he will hold in the crook of his arm forever. At the reception, after his funeral, I got mean on four cups of Lime Sherbet Punch. When the man who was not my father divorced my mother, I stopped being related to him. These things are complicated, says the Talmud. When he died, I couldn’t prove it. I couldn’t get a death certificate. These things are complicated, says the Health Department. Their names remain on the deed to the house. It isn’t haunted, it’s owned by ghosts. When I die, I will come in fast and low. I will stick the landing. There will be no confusion. The dead will make room for me.

*Reproduced from the Poetry Foundation, and they credit:

Richard Siken, "Real Estate" from Poem-a-Day: December 4, 2020. Copyright © 2020 by Richard Siken. Reprinted by permission of Richard Siken.

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Hope to see your words!

xo