The Last City I Loved: Arusha
The city was in the margins, and I came to love it slowly. I loved it the way you love a fever dream, its wicked strangeness.
Rumpus Original
8550 posts
The Rumpus Interview with Frank Bill
Perhaps because he’s so entrenched in it, Frank Bill is a master of conveying life in rural, blue-collar Middle America without pandering to or stereotyping his subjects.
The Rumpus Interview with Justin St. Germain
When Justin was twenty, his mother was murdered by her fifth husband in their trailer, off the grid from Tombstone, Arizona. He spent the next decade trying not to be defined by his mother’s death, before deciding to face his grief head on for his new memoir, Son of a Gun.
Ted Wilson Reviews the World #194
ANTIQUES ★★★★★ (3 out of 5) Hello, and welcome to my week-by-week review of everything in the world. Today I am reviewing antiques.
The Sunday Rumpus Essay: Grief Magic
"I'm like an alcoholic who doesn't drink anything but worst case scenarios..." In the aftermath of trauma, Emily Rapp struggles to give up being "on call" for grief.
Saturday Rumpus Poetry: In Japan
Enjoy these two prose poems from Gary Young's forthcoming collection In Japan.
The Rumpus Interview with Joseph Olshan
Joseph Olshan, whose novel Clara's Heart was reissued last month for its 20th anniversary, discusses impossible relationships, the power of the erotic in fiction, and making your way down the dark and foggy highway of novel writing.
Why I Chose Brenda Hillman’s Seasonal Works With Letters on Fire for the Rumpus Poetry Book Club
I know I’m not supposed to dog-ear the pages of poetry books. It’s bad for the long-term health of the book. I know this. And yet, I’ve dog-eared more pages…
Exit Music
We know one another’s stories—so S can complain about her husband and I can bitch about my kids without a lot of caveats. We converse in fragments, in the moments the band has gone quiet, yet still understand one another.
Rock Out With Your Book Out #3: Nick Flynn
Full of youthful energy, hilarious anecdotes, refreshingly honest insights about life and how the fuck we are supposed to move through it all, he's got this presence that could convince anyone that our experiences do not, in fact, have the power to break us.
Eulogy Material
“This is eulogy material,” my father says as he explains this logic. He preps me, teaches me what to say, how to stand. “Remember how he used to draw symbols on his socks,” he begins...