Poetry
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“Transmittency”: A Rumpus Original Poem by Rachel Loden
Transmittency I stand by what I said. I stand by it or next to it. I peer over the gazebo at what I said, the way it flowers in the darkness, mysteriously,
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Selected Translations by W. S. Merwin
The translation of poetry requires justification. Not necessarily for conceptual reasons, but because the experience of reading translated poetry however transcendent and beautiful always feels lacking, incomplete, like living in a body missing some essential organ. Of course, this remains…
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David Biespiel’s Poetry Wire: Dorothea Lasky v. Elizabeth Bishop
All of a sudden my inbox is filling up with links from friends to two essays related to poetry that have almost everything and nothing in common at once, and whose implications say a lot about how the art of…
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“How to Survive a Hotel Fire” by Veronica Wong
The princess is not a poet, but we never forget that she is written by one, a very good one indeed.
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David Biespiel’s Poetry Wire: Marilyn Hacker Is No Hack
Here’s hoping more people read the concise and precise interview about translation up on Guernica between Erica Wright and Marilyn Hacker. When we talk about someone being a prolific translator, Marilyn Hacker — who is a fantastic poet, let’s not…
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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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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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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 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 Fact of the Matter” by Sally Keith
In The Fact of the Matter, moments are artifacts to be labeled and sorted. The poems are not an attempt to make sense – of time, of history, and of the self and the self in and out of love…
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The Last Poem I Loved: “Sleeping Lioness” by Larry Levis
As a fiction writer, and as a reader, I gravitate toward stories from the perspective of a specific, imperfect and alert, outward-and-inward-looking consciousness, a transparent eyeball with legs and, at least occasionally, uncomfortable shoes. The danger of a story centered…