The Rumpus
  • My Account
  • Essays
  • Fiction
  • Poetry
  • Comics
  • Features
    • Interviews
    • The First Book
    • Reviews
    • Themed Months
    • What to Read When
  • Columns
    • Beyond the Page
    • Close Reads
    • Collaborative Criticism
    • ENOUGH
    • Funny Women
    • Parallel Practice
    • Voices on Addiction
    • We Are More
    • Conversations With Writers Braver Than Me
    • Dear Sugar
    • Roxane Gay
    • All Columns
  • Store
  • Prize
  • Rumpus Membership
  • Merch
  • Letters in the Mail
  • Bonfire Merch
  • My Account
Become a MemberDonate
Become a Member Donate
The Rumpus
The Rumpus The Rumpus
  • My Account
  • Essays
  • Fiction
  • Poetry
  • Comics
  • Features
    • Interviews
    • The First Book
    • Reviews
    • Themed Months
    • What to Read When
  • Columns
    • Beyond the Page
    • Close Reads
    • Collaborative Criticism
    • ENOUGH
    • Funny Women
    • Parallel Practice
    • Voices on Addiction
    • We Are More
    • Conversations With Writers Braver Than Me
    • Dear Sugar
    • Roxane Gay
    • All Columns
  • Store
  • Prize
0

Essays

170 posts
Read
  • Essays
  • Rumpus Original
  • Television

The Aesthetics of Safety

  • Freda Epum
  • December 14, 2021
I find beauty in being protected from danger.
Read
Read
  • Essays
  • Politics
  • Rumpus Original

Becoming American in the Age of Trump

  • Ofelia Montelongo
  • December 13, 2021
How does one come to feel American in the eyes of others?
Read
Read
  • Essays
  • Rumpus Original

Tend

  • Ayla Samli
  • December 9, 2021
Tending has a thickness to it—it entails attention, time, and something like sacrifice.
Read
Read
  • Essays
  • Rumpus Original

Turning the Lights On

  • Tyler Anne Whichard
  • December 8, 2021
I feel guilt in the not good enough I carry alongside the not bad enough.
Read
Read
  • Art
  • Essays
  • Rumpus Original

Picasso Shares His Screen

  • Paul Anderson
  • December 6, 2021
The faces of the students appeared one by one, both there and not.
Read
Read
  • Essays
  • Rumpus Original

The Statue

  • Alina Stefanescu
  • December 2, 2021
The mother, too, is a monument. I am haunted by mine.
Read
Read
  • Essays
  • Rumpus Original

Girl, Falling

  • Lara Vergnaud
  • December 1, 2021
This made sense to me. Body + stressor = reaction.
Read
Read
  • Essays
  • Rumpus Original

Into Thin Air (The Women on Flight 305)

  • Emily Nelson
  • November 18, 2021
The only thing different about Dan Cooper was his bomb.
Read
Read
  • Essays
  • Rumpus Original

Wash

  • Karine Hack
  • November 16, 2021
I hate the word clean. It’s antiseptic, scrubbed raw; it makes me think of sin and guilt and a God I don’t believe in.
Read
Read
  • Essays
  • Rumpus Original

What Russian Grammar Taught Me about Death

  • Alison Macke
  • November 11, 2021
I wanted to feel in control of something, but I didn’t know how to say that.
Read
Read
  • Essays
  • Rumpus Original

On Ghosting

  • Aidan Forster
  • November 9, 2021
To ghost, to refuse, to satisfy yourself with yourself, felt impossibly newfangled, like something I’d like to try.
Read
Read
  • Essays
  • Features & Reviews
  • Poetry
  • Rumpus Original

Reading Whitman While White

  • Han VanderHart
  • November 8, 2021
It is only by holding Whitman accountable for all of his language that we can also love other parts of his language and poetics.
Read

Posts pagination

Previous 1 … 12 13 14 15 Next
Become a Member!

BECOME A MONTHLY OR ANNUAL RUMPUS MEMBER AND RECEIVE EXCLUSIVE CONTENT, EDITORIAL INSIGHTS, MERCH DISCOUNTS, AND MORE! OUR GOAL IS TO REACH AT LEAST 600 MEMBERS BY THE END OF 2025 TO COVER OUR BASIC OPERATING COSTS.

Join today!
COMMUNITY SUPPORT KEEPS THE MAGAZINE GOING!

Founded in 2009, The Rumpus is one of the longest-running online literary magazines around. We’ve been independent from the start, which means we’re not connected with any academic institution, wealthy benefactor, or part of a larger publishing company. The vast majority of the magazine’s funding comes from reader support.

In other words, we can’t survive without YOU!

Make a Tax-Deductible Donation
Letters in the mail (from authors)

Receive letters from some of our favorite authors written just for Rumpus readers and sent straight into your (snail) mailbox 2x a month!

sign up now!

Keep in Touch

The Rumpus publishes original fiction, poetry, literary humor writing, comics, essays, book reviews, and interviews with authors and artists of all kinds. Our mostly volunteer-run magazine strives to be a platform for risk-taking voices and writing that might not find a home elsewhere. We lift up new voices alongside those of more established writers our readers may already know and love. We want to bring new perspectives into the conversation that will make us all look deeper.

We believe that literature builds community—and if reading The Rumpus makes you feel more connected, please show your support! Get your Rumpus merch in our online store. Subscribe to receive Letters in the Mail from authors or join us by becoming a monthly or yearly Member.

We support independent bookstores! 10% of sales on any titles purchased through our Bookshop.org page or affiliate links benefits the magazine.

The Rumpus in your Inbox!
The Rumpus
  • Team
  • About & Writers’ Guidelines
  • Advertise
  • TOS and Privacy Policy
© 2025, The Rumpus.

Input your search keywords and press Enter.