"Siken is, 20 years after Crush 's publication, a rare thing-an enduring crossover hit between the literary world, where his singular style instantly became iconic among young queer poets in the early aughts, and online fandom culture, which has pushed his work into the mainstream. That a high school student chose to do her homework assignment about him, early in his career, is remarkable; that numerous of young people are still asking him the same questions today is even more so."
"For an artist who has built such a reputation for shutting down intimate questions, Siken's newest collection is bracing in its openness and self-reflection. Siken describes I Do Know Some Things as "meditative": Plainly autobiographical, it marks a departure from what he calls the "narrative" mode of Crush, told by various ambiguous speakers, and the "rhetorical" nature of War of the Foxes, his 2015 book of abstract,"
Richard Siken replied to a teenager's request for biographical facts by saying that needing such details meant his poems had failed. He has repeatedly rebuffed intimate questions while becoming a durable crossover figure between literary circles and online fandom. Young readers continue to ask personal and trivial questions; he often answers them on X but notes that few inquiries concern his poems. The new collection, I Do Know Some Things, is described as meditative and plainly autobiographical, marking a deliberate shift away from the ambiguous narrative voice of Crush and the abstract, rhetorical approach of War of the Foxes.
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