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Rumpus Articles
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American Basswood (Tilia Americana)
During the downtime between the rush hours, ba collected books—English ones. Some of the books he would find discarded and often outdated by some years, in trash bins outside of the language learning centers down the street. Our street, which…
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Memoir in Essays: A Conversation with Maya Jewell Zeller
“The books got weirder and more experimental as I explored the dissonance and impossibilities inherent in being both a domestic and financial provider in a body that never receives rest nor care.”
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He Could Be Like Cronus
Three years later, as a freshman in college, I decide to reach out to him again. My email is brief; part of me is afraid maybe my mother lied or was wrong. Perhaps he is not my father. Still, I…
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Triumphs and Trials, Breaking Free to Wholeness: A Conversation with Toni Ann Johnson
“I wasn’t concerned with making every character lovable. Narcissists are not lovable from their victims’ POV. This book offers a look at how to survive narcissistic parents, not how to love them.”
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Among the Believers
Nafisa walks among the pilgrims, her steps slow because she is in no hurry. The Hotel Dar-es-Salam which has been her home for the past four months is only a ten minute walk from the Haram and the stroll down…
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Three Poems
Migration for Mimi this march the barn swallows will return packing their mud nest under the eaves gold-chested they dash among the limbs of an oak tree, fork tails splitting the sky whistle & click their little song transports me…
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Almost True: A Conversation with Richie Hofmann
“Every extant bronze from antiquity is a miracle of survival. I’m moved by the notion that the statues that come down to us often survive because they were lost, shipwrecked, hidden away. And then, discovered by an amateur scuba diver…
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Sunday Scaries: The Body Monstrous
New teeth pierced my gums, razor-sharp and dripping with my own blood. Talons ruptured the tips of my fingers. Wings unfurled from my collarbones and I spread them wide, knocking over bowls and pans, casting shadows of leather and bone.…
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“Beloved Son Felix”: Coming of Age in the Renaissance
And yet for all this death, life went on, and what makes the journal truly fascinating are the everyday details of the mid-16th century. On a day trip to Villeneuve, Felix notes that rosemary is so abundant that it’s collected…
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On This Father’s Day
My wife and children give me every reason to feel loved, to feel appreciated, to feel needed. Every year, like every day, my family makes me feel like I’m special—that I’m their dad, that I’m her husband. But my wife…
