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The Rumpus Interview with Kate Durbin
Kate Durbin’s poetry and performance art focus on female archetypes like princesses, witches, and pop stars. She dives into the cesspools of modern culture without shame, resurfacing to present us with glittering treasures from the depths.
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How to Tell a True Story
Ten years after, I sit in a psychiatrist’s office on the Upper East Side. This is my second time here. The first time, when I first met Dr. J, he asked me about my dreams: “Do you have any nightmares?”
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The Last Book of Poetry I Loved: L.A. Liminal
The week I decided to move to Los Angeles, I read a book of poetry by a woman who had lived there for four years, hated it, left it for New York, and couldn’t stop writing poems about it. It seemed fitting. Except Becca Klaver came “back East,” leaving Los Angeles, whereas I’m about to…
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Where I Write #11: A Table Meant For Dining
There is a corkboard here. On it, there is a paper doll of L., a friend from my grad school days. The doll features a pixie haircut, a polka-dot blouse, a pair of men’s pants.
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Ray Shea: The Last Book I Loved, The Sound of Building Coffins
When I first bought The Sound of Building Coffins, by Louis Maistros, I was already in the middle of another book. My girlfriend Linda was visiting me in New Orleans. Her semester at the University of Michigan had just ended, so she had a rare week where she could read for pleasure, and I told…
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The Rumpus Book Club, Where I Live #8: Kim Locke
My name is Kim Locke and I live in the suburban commuter metropolis of Brampton, Ontario, Canada.
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Why are we dead anyhow?
A brief look at James Purdy’s career. It is customary to speak of an artist having his fingers on the pulse of a nation’s culture. Purdy, on the contrary, repeatedly put his hands in the open wounds of American identity and ideals. His bracing advice to young writers was to “banish shame.”