Blogs
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Nick Cave Monday #5: “Bring It On”
In 2003, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds released “Nocturama.” I love almost every record The Bad Seeds have released, but with “Nocturama,” I was disappointed. I listened over and over, hoping I was wrong
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“Roleplay” by Juliana Gray
In Juliana Gray’s Roleplay, though the book has its share of formal verse – triolets, sonnets, etc – don’t be surprised if you run into a zombie or two. Roleplay contains, besides a zombie love poem, a series of poems…
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Self-Made Man #17: Real Men
If masculinity could be defined by a quick Google search or a drive down a billboard-studded highway, then a “real man” is a paradox, captured crudely at the uneasy intersections of faith, love, public service announcements, politics, and advertising.
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The Last Poem I Loved: “Oh Karma, Dharma, pudding and pie” by Philip Appleman
Of all of the people I know who own a smartphone (a majority, anymore), most of them get up in the morning and immediately reach for said smartphone from their cozy nest in bed. The first thing they do is…
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A Brief History of The Rumpus Poetry Book Club
Back in July of 2010, The Rumpus started a poetry version of its book club. Board member Camille Dungy selected Shane Book’s Ceiling of Sticks to start us off and we’ve never looked back. Here’s a rundown of the book…
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Roxane Gay’s Reading Roundup, Fall 2012
Our essays editor surveys new novels and collections — coming-of-age tales, journeys, and love stories — and looks ahead to forthcoming works.
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David Biespiel’s Poetry Wire: MFA in the Palm of Your Hand
Released just the other day, the new Paris Review app is slender, simple and, for the cost of absolutely nothing, is already worth as much, nay more, than any MFA education now on the market. Why? Because the free app…
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THE LONELY VOICE #19: On the Beauty of Not Writing… A Reluctant Homage to Juan Rulfo
I would like to be even more silent. The need to write thankfully only comes once in a while,
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Praise for The Middlesteins
Our October Rumpus Book Club selection, Jami Attenberg’s The Middlesteins, has been receiving lots of accolades from the likes of O Magazine, The Buffalo News, and Grantland. “…It’s clear-eyed funny and truthful and deeply moving, especially in the killer-punch of its…
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“The Children” by Paula Bohince
The plosive thrills and quietly mournful tenor of the finely-wrought poems Paula Bohince’s The Children (her second full-length collection) reward enormously upon first encounter, and only more so upon subsequent reads. This collection reminds the reader that lyric’s static and…
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The Sweet Smell of Excess
Al-Anon sucked. If I hadn’t been too broke for therapy, I’d never have taken a friend’s advice to attend those awful meetings. They were worse than the AA meetings I’d been to over the years in support of my string…
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In Memory of Victor Martinez
Peter Orner remembers his friend, the late poet and novelist Victor Martinez.