What to Read When: You Like to Look at Birds
I have long gravitated toward books that know where they are situated.
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Join NOW!I have long gravitated toward books that know where they are situated.
...moreI was fine. No one and nothing could hurt me.
...moreAn excerpt from The Rumpus Book Club’s March selection, HAPPILY by Sabrina Orah Mark
...moreGravity is what tethers us to the earth and to those we love, but it is also what we are constantly trying to escape. Anchor is about both these states—the holding on and the letting go—and the tension between them.
...more. . . good writing and good storytelling has to exceed the relatable . . .
...moreWe lose track of things and people over time. But back then, they felt like everything.
...moreWhen things begin disappearing from the house, I know what is happening. My mother has always been good at taking what she is owed.
...moreTeenagers are brilliant—you actually get duller as an adult . . .
...moreI think humor is so important to who we are as people, how we deal with pain, how we connect with one another. It’s essential to my being and my writing.
...moreTwice a month, The Rumpus brings your favorite writers directly to your IRL mailbox via our Letters in the Mail programs.
...moreTwo huge things happened to me when I was quite young: I went mad, and I fell in love, in relatively swift succession.
...moreThe year my baby turned sixteen was the year my novel died.
...moreFrom Ball’s absurdist perspective, leaning into the world’s inherent purposelessness isn’t about embracing mortality. It’s about embracing complete obliteration.
...more“What’s a six-letter word for ignoring truth,” she might say, without looking up from the puzzle.
...moreWriting started feeling interesting again, like it was worth it after all, and not just a boring thing that ate ham sandwiches on white bread for every meal and whose favorite book from last year was [Redacted] by [Famous author], which remained on the NYT Bestsellers List for what felt like forever.
...moreI have great affection for writers who come into their queerness after they’ve already written books . . .
...more“Not all Men” / Except for the one that followed / Me down every Publix aisle, / To the bakery, to the register, / & waited for me in the lot.
...more2. In literary Arabic, kaph is used as a prefix to mean like or as or as though / 3. If kaph is a hand that means like or as or as though, then kaph is a simile / 4. Simile is a hand touching two places at once, a hand bringing together / two far away things, making a transfer (metaphor)
...moreAlmost ten years have passed since Lynn Xu’s debut, the luminous Debts & Lessons, introduced us to her oracle. “Let it not be for what you write, the world / I mean,” opens one of the collection’s signature center-justified poems, redeemed from any elitist snark about the form’s limitations. That collection’s first poem, “Say You […]
...moreWithin true community, we can experience our deepest vulnerabilities because we know that we are safe to fail, encouraged to thrive, and needed to be part of something greater than our little selves.
...moreWhich Side Are You On is a novel both of the heart and the mind: one that makes you think and question your perception of the world and your place in it, and feel deeply and fervently about what matters to you.
...more“No remedy will undo your bad choices, or your addiction to sugar. And you can’t afford my prices anyway.”
...moreI think that it’s helpful to imagine your own people as your primary audience even when you are also writing for an audience that doesn’t necessarily belong to this community.
...moreDear MFA Faculty at Private University,
...moreWhy bother closing a door / when everyone demands it open?
...moreAn excerpt from The Rumpus Poetry Book Club’s February selection, PROMISES OF GOLD by José Olivarez
...moreEssays are all about reflection, and we thought we’d kick off 2023 with a look at the most-read pieces of last year. It can sometimes feel like hours (years) of hard work disappear into the maw of our short attention spans, and these lists serve as important reminders of the work. — The Eds. *** #1 […]
...moreSafety requires setting up clear boundaries, but a restricted life is lonely and isolating and often impossible to bear.
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