“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…
Rumpus Original
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Steve Almond’s Bad Poetry Corner #19: Graduation Party
(Writing wretched verse so you don’t have to since 1995) Graduation Party It looks, from a distance, like a track and field tourney: so much avid motion in shorts and…
As If the Stars Invented Dinner
So what are Mazer’s actual poems like? They are, in their way, haunted.
Magic in Movies: Notes on Au Hasard Balthazar
Magic in movies is a beautiful thing. I’ve inundated myself with film for years, since the age of nineteen, but only recently experienced the pleasure of being put under a…
DEAR SUGAR, The Rumpus Advice Column #46: Beauty and the Beast
Dear Sugar, I’m an average twenty-six-year-old man, exceptional only in that I’m writing to an Internet advice columnist and that I’m incredibly ugly. I don’t hate myself, and I don’t…
Elegant Trash
In his second book, Rob Sheffield uses ‘80s pop to explore adolescent memories, complex emotions, and the woes of being the de facto “gay friend.”
Conversations with Writers Braver Than Me: Vivian Gornick
In an effort to embolden myself to move past this crippling fear and go on writing – or give up altogether – I’ve begun interviewing memoirists I admire.
10/40/70 #18: Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
This ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine…
A Gap in a Two-Way Mirror
As a chapbook, Narcissus Resists works. Across nineteen poems, a conceit such as this can get old, but Hittinger keeps his book compelling and engaging.
The Rumpus Interview with Mac McClelland: Burma, the Karen, and Genocide
In March, Soft Skull Press released For Us Surrender Is Out of the Question, Mac McClelland’s memoir of the six weeks she spent in Thailand, helping refugees from Burma living…
FUNNY WOMEN #30: My Four Relationships
The way you’re looking at me tonight, I know you’re ready to take this to the next level.