Blogs
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Why I Chose Cleopatra Mathis’s “Book of Dog” for the Rumpus Poetry Book Club
Camille T. Dungy on why she selected Book of Dog by Cleopatra Mathis for the Rumpus Poetry Book Club in November.
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David Biespiel’s Poetry Wire: Searching for Sylvia Plath
Here’s a lede that might send you to your room with the vapors: “As a rule the work of women poets is marked by intensity of feeling and fineness of perception rather than by outstanding technical accomplishment.” So writes Bernard…
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Crossing State Lines: An American Renga edited by Bob Homan and Carol Muske-Dukes
I first discovered Renga: A Chain of Poems (Brazillier, 1972) in a used bookstore in New York during my first year of graduate school. I was transfixed.
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Institute of Indian Arts Celebrates 50th Anniversary
October marks the 50th anniversary of the Institute of Indian Arts (IAIA). It’s the only 4-year college in America that is completely dedicated to Native American studies. At The Poetry Foundation, Elizabeth Hardball expounds upon the history of poetry at the…
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Nick Cave Monday #7: “No Pussy Blues”
Some men on their 50th birthday buy a convertible, grow a mustache, shag a yoga instructor and enter what society calls a midlife crisis. Nick Cave had the greatest midlife crisis ever, which included growing a mustache straight out of…
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Lit-Link Round-up
You’ve heard me talk about Other Voices Querétaro. Our website is now live! Workshops with Pam Houston, Josip Novakovich and Rob Roberge. My longtime partner in the Other Voices operations, Stacy Bierlein and I will run Wine and Publishing Talks nightly.…
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How We All Lose
Discussions about gender are often framed as either/or propositions. Men are from Mars and women are from Venus, or so we are told, as if this means we’re all so different it is nigh impossible to reach each other.
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“The Tornado Collects the Animals”: a Rumpus Original Poem by Catherine Pierce
The Tornado Collects the Animals The tornado likes animals because they pay attention. The tornado sees the dogs howling up from rippling yards, the cows huddled mutely against one another, a sparrow pulsing its wings hard to stay stationary. The…
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“The Girls of Peculiar” by Catherine Pierce
There is a canon of cinema that revolves around girls leaving girlhood, and finding themselves young and nubile, ready (so they think) to embrace their future as women. There’s the girl who seduces her teacher, only to realize she should…
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David Biespiel’s Poetry Wire: Why I’m Quitting Ezra Pound
Ever heard that gobsmacking troubadourist Ezra Pound read his elaborate, funkified sestina, “Sestina: Altafore,” in a voice that is one part American-as-European, swilling-with-the-rolling-R’s accent and cantorian swoons and another part a sort of goofy Hailey, Idaho carnival barker? The nifty…
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“Southern Wind, Clear Sky”: A Rumpus Original Poem by Elisa Gabbert and Kathleen Rooney
Southern Wind, Clear Sky Hokusai says the morning is clear, but it’s never really clear around Mount FujiMount Fuji is an active volcano, so we can never get entirely comfortable People have their theories, but nobody knows for sure what…
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“Robinson Alone” by Kathleen Rooney
First things first: you don’t have to be a fan of Weldon Kees to enjoy this book. Shameful confession: until I read the note that precedes the table of contents, I’d never even heard of Weldon Kees or his Robinson…