War of the Foxes

Excellent poetry, would definitely recommend

Siken's poetry is honestly magical, and Foxes is full of rich imagery steeped in art and nature. It's quite different to Crush, so don't buy Foxes expecting more of that raw and often visceral verse that was in Siken's first collection ... the feeling you get from Foxes is a lot more ambiguous, especially considering its central theme of how we look to art for answers to moral and philosophical questions. Foxes presents itself much the same: some of the poems are not as clear cut as in Crush, and might leave you unsatisfied with how up-in-the-air their meaning, but I feel that's the point too. Art raises discussion, after all. The titular poem is probably my favourite in the book, and really stands out from the rest. tl;dr enjoyed Foxes, preferred Crush, but both are stellar collections.

Very profound and though provoking poetry but more subtle and restrained that debut crush

More philosophical than Crush, though still exactly what you'd expect from Richard Siken - powerful narratives, striking images, the indefinite boundaries and subtleties of inner conflict and loss. Beautiful work.

Like the blank canvas slowly being coloured, this book takes you by surprise, moving you, touching you, haunting you. I can't wait to read more of Siken.

I’ll start by saying I did not finish reading it, nor do I intend to. After discovering and reading Richard Siken’s first book - Crush - I was so excited to discover he had another published work. I fell in love with Crush immediately to the point where I still carry it in my daily bag to re-read whenever I have some time to kill. It spoke to me in ways that no book or art ever has. I started reading War of the Foxes the second I received it, and stopped just a few pages in. It’s beautifully written, profound, and clearly monumental in the revelations within - which, as you’ll see, I can’t understand. It didn’t speak to me like Crush did, and several other reviewers mentioned something similar. The thing is, Crush was published when the author was in college. War of the Foxes came out over a decade after. Of course I felt so moved by Crush, because maybe I’m in the same place now as Siken was when he wrote it - too young to be so old, and too young to be anything other than angry about it. But Siken took that pain and turned it into something achingly magnificent. I have no doubt that War of the Foxes will move me in a similar way - I just haven’t grown up enough yet. So I put it lovingly on my shelf of favorites, where it will be waiting when I’ve lived a bit more life, and have another perspective, as Siken did when he wrote it. I really look forward to that day, but I’m rating this 5/5 because I know the wait will be worth it.

Super!

Raccolta interessante. Decisamente più allegorica rispetto a Crush, meno grafica e letterale ma sempre molto bella e affascinante. Siken si riconferma uno dei migliori poeti dei nostri anni.

It feels very different from Crush - and it was delightful. A good read with some ideas that really stay with you