Crush

By Richard Siken,

Book cover of Crush

Book description

The 2004 winner of the Yale Younger Poets competition: a powerful, confessional, erotic collection

Finalist for the 2005 National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry

"Siken writes about love, desire, violence, and eroticism with a cinematic brilliance and urgency that makes this one of the best books of contemporary poetry."-Victoria…


Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Why read it?

1 author picked Crush as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

When I was 21, I moved back to Japan (where I’d lived as a kid), taking a job in the rural south. I didn’t bring a lot with me, but of the few English books that felt indispensable, Crush was one. For the next twelve months of that particular job, I read Crush again and again. Through poetry – the poems are written in a distinct and unified voice – the book took on the quality of a series of monologues, a one-sided conversation that I was overhearing. It was a conversation about queerness, about attempting to forge and re-forge…

Want books like Crush?

Our community of 10,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Crush.

Browse books like Crush

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Japan, Tokyo, and Samurais?

10,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about Japan, Tokyo, and Samurais.

Japan Explore 466 books about Japan
Tokyo Explore 85 books about Tokyo
Samurais Explore 39 books about Samurais