#POEM: Unfinished Duet

[whatareyoudoingwithamaserati]

here’s the issue with the concept of duality of man: eventually, you’re going to have to disagree.

Into the Earth, Lorna Shore // Missing Limbs, Sleep Token // unknown author // Lullaby, Lord Huron // The Abyss Surrounds Us, Emily Skrutskie // Portrait of Fryderyk in Shifting Light, Richard Siken // Saint, deathbyromy // Unfinished Duet, Richard Siken // The Worm King’s Lullaby, Richard Siken // Porcelain, Skott // YOU’VE ALWAYS BEEN MORE OF A DOG PERSON, T. Das // Honey, CUTTS // First From Peripiety, Jen Mazza // Planet of Love, Richard Siken // One Last Poem for Richard, Sandra Cisneros // Cursed to Die, Lorna Shore x2 // SAD, VUKOVI // Saint, deathbyromy // james cemeterything // To A Dead Friend, The Plot In You // unknown author // why do i still care?, Grim Salvo, Savage Ga$p // Straw House, Straw Dog, Richard Siken // myself // Welcome Back, ‘O Sleeping Dreamer, Lorna Shore // Pain Remains I: Dancing Like Flames, Lorna Shore // haiku bot, ft myself

#HELLO EVERYONE AND WELCOME TO THE AUTISM HYPERFOCUS SHITSHOW I’D LIKE TO THANK THE CAUSE OF ALL THIS: HAIKU BOT! #long ass fucking thing but god. it was so fun to make #lifesteal smp #lifesteal #mapicc #roshambogames #duality duo #long post #web weaves #cats.txt

[cricket-approved]

I am memorizing the entirety of Crush by Richard Siken (I'm halfway through unfinished duet rn) and I was wanting to post videos of me reciting the poems on TikTok but TikTok is scary so then I tried uploading audios onto Tumblr but it looked stupid and anyways I am very good at procrastinating my homework.

(ps if I wanted to go insane and upload audios of me reciting these poems how would I do that?)

maybe it's for the best I don't know how anything works ever

#how does anything work #richard siken #i have like 5 thousand words memorized (almost) perfectly #absurd #poetry #unfinished duet is so hard to read aloud and have it make sense #*cricket noises*

[druidx]

I hope it doesn't break the point of others doing the survey, but there were two things I wrote/ reformatted for Paper-Bag's writing survey (here) that I'm actually super proud of and wanted to share.

The first was a continuation of this poem in the form of a novel scene

At first there were too many branches so he cut them and then it was winter. He meaning you. Yes. He would look out the window and stare at the trees that once had too many branches and now seemed to have too few. Is that all? —"Unfinished Duet" by Richard Siken

To which I added probably one of the best bits of subtext I think I've ever written:

"Perhaps I cut them back to much," I said, turning away from the window, my mug cradled in my hand. My friend, at the table, shifted her cup, dissonant, as the base ground against the wood. "Perhaps," she said. Her eyes flicked to the wall upon which had hung a portrait of my family, and now was just a bare spot, darker than the rest. "Perhaps a professional could help."

[line break]

The next was a rewrite of this script in the format of a poem or lyrics:

I'm a connoisseur of roads. I've been tasting roads my whole life. This road will never end. It probably goes all around the world. (My Own Private Idaho, Screenplay by Gus Van Sant)

As someone not naturally inclined to poetry except for very specific inspiration flashes, I think I did pretty well with this (it could probably also be read as lyrics):

Into the distance once again, It stretches -- my entire life has been one, long, never ending- And I have been a connoisseur of many, black and dust and grey concrete, their tastes upon my tongue. If there was one thing they said I'd lived for, travelled 'round the world for, I hope it'd be the freedom of, the often-traveled road

#writing #inspired work #original prose #original poetry #wandering words

[iwishiwereacartoon]

ok odd ask but 1. cld u reccomend any bands and also 2. whatre ur fav poems,,,,

not odd actually, these are topics I get very excited talking about kshdks

okay so, it depends on what kind of music you like but lately I've been listening to The Mountain Goats (The Sunset Tree album brought me back to life), Vial (rage, she/theys screaming at you, beautiful, they have an official Tumblr too), the strokes because they're iconic (is this it and the new abnormal are great albums), arctic monkeys because I love them.

AND I'm now devoted to latino indie rock meaning Charly García mostly, so in bands that would be Seru Giran (you HAVE to listen to La Grasa de Las Capitales, I do not care if you don't know spanish, you learn, this is the single best album I've ever heard), and Sui Generis, and his single albums are amazing (clics modernos, piano bar). I also like No Lo Soporto (Avión is an amazing album), and Nicolás y Los Fumadores (I love them so much, listen to Como Pez en el Hielo and Dios y la Mata de Lulo o ¿Qué Hacer En Caso de que Haya Perdido La Luz?).

If you're interested in solo artists I would also be very happy to talk about some :3

(artists are in bold and albums are in cursive)

Now, for poems I have a whole ass document with loose poetry I collect, and I have a lot of poetry here on my blog (I'm terrible at tagging but I have a #poetry tag, I don't think it has much tho), but I think some of my concise favorite poems are "If you were coming on the fall" by Emily Dickinson (I love Emily Dickinson so much) and right now I'm reading Crush by Richard Siken and it is destroying me, I cried for three poems straight today, some of my favorites are "Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out", "Unfinished Duet", "I Had a Dream About You" and "Saying Your Names" (saying your names ripped me apart, I cried and cried through the whole thing), but if you can read the whole book I highly recommend it because every poem is part of the story.

Neruda is also a favourite, I loved "20 poemas de amor y una canción desesperada". OH, and 'I Will Love You" by Lemony Snicket is amazing and I love it too.

That was a long ass answer but I hope it was what you expected to find out? thanks for asking! <3

#ask #mine

[sikenarthistory]

Wilhelm Maria Hubertus Leibl, Zwei Hände mit Stock (1844-1900) / Richard Siken, Unfinished Duet (2005)

#Wilhelm Maria Hubertus Leibl #Richard Siken #POEM: Unfinished Duet

[deadpoetsmusings]

I woke up in the morning and I didn't want anything, didn't do anything, couldn't do it anyway, just lay there listening to the blood rush through me and it never made any sense, anything. And I can't eat, can't sleep, can't sit still or fix things and I wake up and I wake up

Richard Siken, from “Unfinished Duet”, Crush

#richard siken #unfinished duet #crush #poetry #poems #big mood #booklr #book quotes

[magdalenafemme]

"left handed truth/ right handed truth/ there's no pure way to say it"

- "unfinished duet" by richard siken

#uh happy 200 followers im gonna start doing original quotes from poetry books i read #on the days im not posting my own poetry #fun fact: its richard siken's crush until at least the 31st #queue feel something holy in her touch #richard siken #unfinished duet #crush #poets #poems #poetry #quotes #poetry quotes #poem quotes

[pondsphuwin]

Atticus, Untitled Poem / Vegas: Incomprehensible aspiration (teaser) / Alexandre Cabanel, Fallen angel (detail) / 2 Corinthians 11:14 / Sophokles, Elektra (1896) / Richard Siken, Unfinished Duet (from Crush, 2005) / Kinnporsche The Series Trailer (2022) / Anaïs Nin, Henry & June

#novel vegas is a pos but he is also a very complex character #and i'm obsessed with bible what can i say #so have another #web weaving #kinnporsche #kinnporsche the series #bible sumettikul #kp edit #vegasedit #kinnporscheedit

[skylessnights]

Sylvia Plath “Three Women: A Poem for Three Voices"//  Richard Siken “Unfinished Duet”// Madeline Miller “The Song of Achilles”// Christopher Kondrich “Asylum”// 

#I just love when poetry like this makes you fall in love with your ship even more!! #jjpope #jj x pope #jjpopeedit #mayward #maywardedit #jj maybank #jjmaybankedit #pope heyward #popeheywardedit #outer banks #outerbanksedit #obxedit #obx #web weaving #poetry #poetryblr #sylvia plath #richard siken #madeline miller #christopher kondrick

[ruralboysgod]

untitled poem

transcription:

The road sign at the end of my street has

        the name of this town, teeth white letters,

      my grandma's chairs white line crossing it out

like a car crash drawn by a child's hand.

               "You don't exist anymore," he says,

clutching a pencil till his knuckles get spoiled milk white

and draws an unfinished X:

if it's only one line then it doesn't get to kill,

doesn't make you a sinner;

if it's only one line then it doesn't get personal

because even a murder is a duet;

if it's only one line then you're still a human,

one line shot across the blinding darkness of the universe;

if it's only one line then you're not the bullet

         not the gun but

         the hand;

if it's only one line then it becomes a ghost,

takes the ending away from God.

                 "You don't exist, you are eternal."

You cannot kill a thing that shoots through time,

a dimensional plane that no knife can reach.

So you get God to sit down on the dirty floor

of your mother's old apartment to teach them how to

draw

           one

                   aseptic

                                 diagonal

                                                  white

                                                             line.

God is in the pencil, in the hand that holds the gun, in the road sign, in the knife, in the knife, in the knife, in the knife.

                     "Now it can never die!

                      Hallelujah!"

#writing #art #poetry #poem #writer #glen granatas #dark #glenpoetry #writblr #words #writers on tumblr #my writing #artists on tumblr #god #horror #ghosts #ghostcore #ghost #existentialism #typography

[fowl-fox]

Okay, one more (two, technically)- 1. Where is the quote in your blog description from, and 2. Any Spiro headcanons? Do you think his life was relatively normal up to a certain point- what do you think estranged him from his family (since he canonically has a least a brother that he is estranged from, possibly more- enough that he says he has ‘no family and no heirs’)?

1.) The quote is from Richard Siken's poem 'Unfinished Duet'

2.) For the most part I've always imagined Spiro's life to be relatively normal up until he got into the business world. My headcanon was that he grew up upper-middle class in the midwest with decent parents that were able to get him through college, ect. Jon was always a bit of a trouble maker, but overall normal. Then he gets into business, does well, gets a taste of money and power, and gets corrupted by it. He quickly began to want more and more. And I think that corruption probably estranged him from his family.

By the time we're introduced to him in the series his parents are probably already dead from natural causes. I imagine Spiro as the younger brother for some reason; his older brother was probably content with an average life and didn't care for how being rich made Jon act. Once he heard about the mob connections? He cut him off, for his own family's sake. Jon didn't take this well, but ultimately didn't care enough to actually harm his brother. He does hold a bit of a grudge though.

#fowldom #jon spiro

[tbelchers]

hi i love you so much. top five sitcom episodes, top five songs that start with the letter A, top five poems

top five sitcom episodes: the trolley problem / the good place! the halloween episodes of brooklyn nine which i’m counting as one so i can include other stuff. the blueberry farm bob’s burgers episode. new girl / the 23rd. the episode of that 70s show where jackie takes the fall for hyde with the cops

top five songs that start with the letter A:  all i wanted - paramore, THE top tier. alone / with you - daughter. apartment story - the national. anthems for a seventeen year old girl - broken social scene. and the boys - angus and julia stone.

top five poems: i carry your heart, e.e. cummings. unfinished duet, richard siken. ten love letters, clementine von radics. mad girl’s love song, sylvia plath. describing the color blue, shinji moon. 

#nolanism #answers #thank u niri and i love u very much in return #nolanisms

[harrysdimples]

evermore track by track review (reaction?)

you know what time it is babieeeeeee......

willow

lovely little plucky guitar. I like the piano arrangement in the background. her vocals sound really lovely in the chorus and in the back of the second verse. i’m going to try and judge this as a separate project from folklore because it’s supposed to be just a complementary project but inevitably there will be comparisons. the 1 as an opening track is probably my preference over this I think on first listen. the bridge (?) is probably my favourite part of the song before the 90s trend line lol (just takes me out the song, kinda like the tweet line that’s in the lakes) but her vocals and how mature her voice sounds are just really light and airy and it’s nice to hear. but this is a lot more rhythmic than most of folklore which is something I appreciate and has enough dynamics so that you’re not bored, although the outro could’ve maybe been shortened a bit (but that’s a nitpicky thing lol). that’s her man!

ok I realised half way through happiness that I HAD PUT THE ALBUM ON SHUFFLE BY ACCIDENT WHICH IS BLASPHEMOUS AND SOMETHING I HATE DOING. I apologise sincerely lmao every song after this is in order with the album track list.

happiness

love a synth. ‘I can’t face reinvention’ ok bitch call me out ??? the lyrics are very lovely, as always. what’s/who’s this about ? lmao. it’s very pretty but not sure it’s going anywhere? more instrumentation could’ve maybe elevated this song just because I feel the lyrics are so flowery and beautiful that they deserve to either be in complete isolation (like from the dining table’s production) or some grandiose orchestral arrangement to properly show off how great and genuinely heartbreaking they are. I have no doubt at some point i’ll lie in the dark at some point and sob to this though loooool.

champagne problems 

ah bitch. the opening line already got me. again, the lyrics on this one are cutting me deep and I really like the production in the second half of the song, it really picks up the song when I was worried the production wasn’t going to be for me. the background vocals and harmonies are lovely. I think the lyricism of this song is so important and reminds me of what jack said in the long pond sessions about people with mental health issues never receiving proper recognition for just doing as okay as they can be because to other people, it’s either not enough or they just don’t get how difficult it is to maintain that level of ‘normalcy’. The idea of people dismissing things as ‘champagne problems’ is so poignant when you think of the fact that so many people disregard mental health issues until they’re directly affected by it in some way and treat others as outsiders/bad apples/something to only remember as a cautionary tale and to be forgotten otherwise. the numbness of trying to feel things (like going on the train) and participating in life and trying to believe that you deserve something good, a relationship, love etc but knowing that people are only waiting for you to fail so they can inevitably move on is so sad. my favourite out of the 3 tracks so far.

gold rush

good old jack antonoff production. girl how many people are wanting to get with joe ???? I really like the lyricism again, and the ‘what must it be like to grow up that beautiful’ bit kinda reminds of olivia’s instrumentation for some reason lol. I wish this hit a little harder because it’s on the precipice of greatness but doesn’t get quite there for me, kinda like the archer. loved the production, but I had anticipated it to have this big build up which it didn’t quite hit for me. I am listening to this currently at night with my blinds shut but I know that when it’s in the daytime/sun this will sound so good, so i’m excited to replay this one. update: it’s the next day and I LOVE this.

tis the damn season

hm. this one was pretty middling for me i’m ngl. I don’t think i’ve had enough love/life experience to really relate to this that much (which isn’t taylor or the song’s fault obvs) but I found it hard to ~connect to and the production didn’t really excite me enough to feel too passionate about it. very much enjoyed the “So I'll go back to L.A. and the so-called friends, Who'll write books about me, if I ever make it” line though lol!

tolerate it

I really like this. really encapsulated the feeling of trying your hardest to meet someone’s expectations of you/your relationship and fitting yourself into parameters to suit their needs/what they want and yet you’re still considered on the outskirts of their life. Trying desperately to make that person care as much as you do for them, but in reality your actions just further the reasons why they don’t want you and why your actions are ignored/silently belittled. Feels like this is a good companion piece to a lot of the folklore tracks and could’ve fitted on that album yet is still different enough to stand out. will def be coming back to this.

no body, no crime (feat. HAIM)

ok so taylor’s having her before he cheats moment?? someone should be working on a mashup asap. you know i’m a sucker for country yeehaw bops so i’ll definitely be playing this on repeat lol, so far probably the most upbeat track along with gold rush and this is probably my favourite track so far. the storytelling through the lyricism is fabulous and I really love the little production elements like danielle saying “she was with me dude” lol, I don’t have a lot of experience/references for “real” country music so if this is a little corny idk but I like it anyway lmao

dorothea

this was a sweet song, might be completely off the mark with this interpretation, but I sort of viewed this as taylor speaking to her younger self and telling her how she can always go back to who she was after becoming too enchanted with fame and the troubles that come with it/experiencing the consequences of fame, and that inevitably it’ll be okay in the end. a nice reassuring, pleasant song. not sure how much replay value it’ll have for me personally but I appreciate it :’)

coney island feat. the national

I like this for the most part. I think it’ll be a grower but I can see this moving up in my ranks once I listen to it a bit more. the second half of the song after the bridge is definitely better than the first and I really like it, but the first half isn’t my favourite. I think within some of the lyrics there are some clunky lines and I’m not sure how well the dueting partner works (idk if that’s aaron dessner or someone else?) but I think another softer (?) male voice could’ve gone better with it, or just taylor herself. the instrumentation and production on this song is fantastic though and I really love the bridge (although the idea of joe and taylor coming together to write about all of taylor’s exes makes me lol)

ivy:

the chord progression really reminds me of like 80% of folklore and idk if this track was “necessary” even though she’s perfectly entitled to her art obvs. but in the context of the album idk if this was needed, probably the most filler-like of all of them so far (for me personally). it’s sort of like a long poem to me and the subject matter of infidelity is always interesting when taylor covers it, but idk, this didn’t do too much for me on first listen

cowboy like me

this feels like a movie or video game soundtrack song, I always appreciate a good guitar solo and the instrumentation in this song is great. I don’t know how much this goes anywhere until the bridge but I love the line “now you hang from my lips, like the gardens of babylon, with your boots beneath my bed, forever is the sweetest con”. I think this has the potential to be a major grower on me though purely bc of how melodic it is and how “vibey” it is.

long story short

yeah this wasn’t really for me. I can appreciate it’s objectively a well produced song with some good lyrics, it just didn’t really click for me sadly upon first listen.

marjorie

yeah so this made me sob. as some of you may know I lost my grandma two weeks ago suddenly so...yeah, this song just really hit me. this is a beautiful track.

closure

what is going on here on this day lmao? reaaaaaaallly not a fan of the production and the synthetic (?) drums that were used on this track and I don’t think the use of repetition in the chorus’ lyricism really works that well here. idk it just feels a little unfinished to me

evermore feat. bon iver

I think this is too lyrically dense for my brain to properly intake after the long road it took to get to this track lol so I think i’ll need some time with it. I don’t think bon iver’s addition works as well as exile but I like the second half of the song which he’s in, in comparison to the first half, it does kinda feel like two songs put into one though. taylor’s vocals sound nice though. 

in conclusion:

favourites: tolerate it, gold rush, champagne problems, no body, no crime, marjorie

in between/grower: cowboy like me

meh: tis the damn season, willow, doreathea, evermore

didn’t really like: ivy, long story short, closure

I feel like i’m going to be crucified for saying this but this feels like a lover-fied version of folklore ajfkhsas if that makes ANY sense to anyone but my own brain. I said when I did this same kind of post for folklore that the album did what the concept for lover tried to do (the love letter to different kinds of love) 10x better and I was happy to see this kind of direction from her. I still love folklore and I think it’s a true piece of art and it ranks high in my tiers of taylor albums, but this just kinda misses the mark for me for the most part (on first listen). It’s very lyrically dense, which is nice, but much less accessible than folklore to me in terms of melodies and the overall structure of some of the songs, which is again, fine, but not necessarily what I had anticipated going into this album and generally usually isn’t my thing. for all that i’ve said about jack’s production in some songs on previous albums of taylor’s, his presence here is missed imo. I’ve expressed that I don’t particularly enjoy long albums because eventually the flow of the album is lost, and that is true here. around the ivy/long story short stretch it kinda loses ground which is a shame because there is some beautiful lyricism in there, but it’s even more susceptible to risking being brought down by the sequencing when it’s a sister album to another project and will end up being compared to that and the tracks there. given the style of music this is in, the fact that it’s a sister album and so long, it’s got a lot against it and I don’t know if it manages to overcome those hurdles for me personally. It’s like what harry said about sequencing, the track listing is so important imo to the purpose and arc of the album that you want to tell and I feel like there could’ve been a lot more “editing” of this project to make it stand up to the highs of folklore imo, or potentially editing down folklore to combine it with some of the really strong tracks on evermore like goldrush, no body no crime etc. I don’t know if the narrative of this album is unique enough to stand against folklore and some of taylor’s other albums for me. I will be returning to these songs for sure, but the sequencing and overall structure of this album kinda lets it down. I can’t help but ponder if this album will age well in comparison to folklore, or both albums will age well with the narrative fuelling it being created in quarantine and as a product of boredom. if folklore wins AOTY at the grammys (which it seems it’s secured to at this point), it’s going to be tied to the “corona year” so it’ll be interesting to see where these projects end up and how well received they are in years to come vs taylor’s other projects and how they’ve aged. we’ll see! i’d probably give it a 7.5/10 in comparison to the 9/10 for folklore. 

#ruth rambles #taylor swift

[e-vasong]

I just reread the poem “Unfinished Duet” by Richard Siken and it’s making me feel Five emotions I’m not strong enough for this

#tua #the umbrella academy #do i read poetry and intentionally think about fictional characters? PERHAPS #but this one is really getting me asdfghjk #the references to coffee and black umbrellas.... #the pairing of the moon and violins..... #the expression of tenderness in contrast to a past of violence #im. WEAK.

[wildefluorescent]

i’ve always thought the poem unfinished duet by richard siken had massive davenzi vibes specifically the lines “he wants to be tender and merciful” to “he has a body but it doesn’t matter, clean sheets on the bed it doesn’t matter” like that whole section makes me soft 🥺 so maybe something with that if you want. congrats again on ur milestone!

nick your huge enormous brain........

here is the set but like that pOEM. anyway thank you so much, i love you <3 

#druck #marta milestone prompts #yes both of them r matteo n both r david in my stupid gay brain

[glittertimes]

The Losers Club as Richard Siken poems

Stan:

Landscape with Fruit Rot and Millipede 

The Language of the Birds

Beverly:

Detail of the Fire

Landscape with Black Coats in Snow

Ben:

Detail of the Forest (Woods)

Turpentine

Mike:

Portrait of in Fryderyk Shifting Light

Unfinished Duet

Saying All Your Names

Eddie:

Logic

Lovesong of the Square Root of Minus (Negative) One

Snow and Dirty Rain

Richie:

The Stag and The Quiver

A Primer for the Small Weird Loves

Sceherazade

Snow and Dirty Rain

Bill:

Dots Everywhere

Three Proofs

Download Links:

Crush

War of the Foxes

#richard siken #it #it 2017 #it 2019 #it 1990 #stanley uris #beverly marsh #ben hanscom #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #bill denbrough