Poems
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National Poetry Month Day 6: “Certain Slant” by T. R. Hummer
Certain Slant Concertina music breaks its foam on the haberdashery window, a murder ballad so old even the monkey knows the words
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National Poetry Month Day 5: “The Great Wave” by Barbara Jane Reyes
The Great Wave After Hokusai First, the sea took the shore. She surged and sucked up the sand and gravel, all the soil and clay. She plucked twisted trees from the earth as if they were turnips. Herons nesting in…
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National Poetry Month Day 4: “For the City that Nearly Broke Me” by Reginald Dwayne Betts
For the City that Nearly Broke Me Listen for echoes. Now bury what you lost in the wind’s silence.
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National Poetry Month, Day 3: “Why I Did Not Make Love to Your Dead Body” by Kirsten Kaschock
Kirsten Kaschock’s A Beautiful Name For a Girl was the Rumpus Poetry Book Club’s January selection. You can read the book club’s interview of her here, and you can find an extended bio at her webpage at Ahsahta Press. Why…
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National Poetry Month, Day 2: “The Starving Saint” by Sandy Longhorn
The Starving Saint Encased in silver, the feet of the saint crack and splinter in the first hard frost.
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National Poetry Month, Day 1: “Bronze Age” by Shane Book
Shane Book’s collection of poems, Ceiling of Sticks, was the first book chosen by the Rumpus Poetry Book Club. You can check out Poetry Book Club Board member Camille Dungy’s rationale for choosing it here, and you can read the…
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“Campbell McGrath” a Rumpus Original Poem by Nick Demske
Campbell Mcgrath I’ll campbell mcgrath your fucking buttsack you little bitch. Campbell mcgrath.
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“LaVena Johnson to Sarah Palin,” A Rumpus Original Poem
In Iraq, in the summer of 2005, 19 year old US Army Private LaVena Johnson was found dead and mutilated in a tent belonging to military contractors KBR. The Army, to this day, asserts that her injuries were self inflicted,…
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The Gray Side of The Moon
I heard Bucky Sinister read this poem at the Quiet Lightning reading series and it was so beautiful I asked him if we could publish it here. – Stephen Elliott
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“Call the Clock,” a Rumpus Original Poem by Nicole Walker
Call the Clock I was a little envious. I’d only ever had one and he— cat o’ hearts—he had nine. He traded them in every time they got broken.
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“Elena Wears the Robe”: The Rumpus Inaugural Poem
On August 5, 2010, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. She will be the 112th person to serve on the Court, and the 4th woman. The Rumpus is happy to mark this occasion with…
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“I Will Away,” a Rumpus Original Poem by Keetje Kuipers
I Will Away With your promises tucked like a dry newspaper under my safe arm.