The Last Poem I Loved: “The Hell Poem” by Shane McCrae
I’m fascinated that the speaker’s harm disappearing is a function of being in Hell.
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Posts Tagged: american politics
SquareRoot of Love: Beyond the Divide
We need some love back, especially from elected and community leaders.
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A Literary Tasting Menu: My Year Abroad by Chang-rae Lee
Simply put, the novel’s heart is not political but sensual.
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Not Looking Away: The State She’s In by Lesley Wheeler
But look at this poet-speaker speaking the unspeakable!
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Save St. Mark’s
It is fifteen years after the renovation, and St. Mark’s struggles to breathe.
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Does It Matter Why
I refuse to play the part, but I play the part.
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The Discourse of Undocumentedness: Talking with Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio discusses her first book, THE UNDOCUMENTED AMERICANS.
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From the Editors: Election 2020
Rumpus editors share their thoughts, fears, and concerns around the impending election.
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The World Is on Fire: Living Weapon by Rowan Ricardo Phillips
A democratic art, the poet says, will take us through. Come November, vote.
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Survival Soup
You could say that I have trained for this pandemic all my life.
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Reclaiming History from the Bigots: Jill Lepore’s This America
History itself is not so conveniently tidy, and neither is this book.
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Rumpus Exclusive: “Sacred Stories”
All anyone really wants is to be seen and heard, and yet we avoid seeing and hearing others every day.
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Until Democracy Falls: Talking with Matthew Baker
Matthew Baker discusses his new story collection, WHY VISIT AMERICA.
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Beyond Anger and Sorrow: On Poetry, Pleasure, Politics, and Offense
A poetry of coalition building: how would that sound?
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President of Smut
Our country has always been ruled by and for the privileged, but never has this glaring injustice in the system been made so shamelessly clear.
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A Recommended Reading List for Trump’s America
We asked nineteen authors what books they’d suggest as recommended reading in light of America’s new political reality.
...moreAmerican Writers on Donald Trump
American writers have issued a statement on Donald Trump’s candidacy for the Presidency of the United States. They are asking writers across the country to sign a petition signifying their agreement with the statement, which begins: Because, as writers, we are particularly aware of the many ways that language can be abused in the name […]
...moreAnohni on the Election
Anohni has established a reputation for political commentary throughout her career, and more recently with songs like “Drone Bomb Me” off of her most recent album, HOPELESSNESS. Now she’s turned her unremitting gaze to the primary election’s exploitation of trans rights as a divisive rallying call: Did you all get the memo? This election cycle in the USA is […]
...moreRadiohead’s Latest Cartoon
Radiohead’s new music video “Burn the Witch” has debuted, and uses imagery reminiscent of a classic British children’s cartoon to render its very unsettling message about the spread of hate in (we’re just guessing, but trust that the allegory is quite strong) contemporary nativist politics across the West. The video employs a stop-motion technique and aesthetic […]
...moreThe Man with the Biggest Mouth
“The guys with the biggest mouths are always the most fragile.” –Donald Trump, at a rally in New Orleans, March 4th 2016 Leaving the airplane hangar, thousands of Trump 2016 signs sandwiched under the arms of red, white, and blue t-shirts and American flag windbreakers, I find myself unlucky enough to be walking behind a […]
...moreDeath and Politics
John Williams inspects the literary themes of love and death, and, in the same article, suggests a few reads as we enter the presidential primaries: Even readers less snarky than Wilde can be forgiven if fictional expirations meet with less than solemn reactions. As Tolstoy wrote in “The Death of Ivan Ilych,” “The very fact […]
...moreSarah Palin, the Transcendentalist
From Lincoln’s famous love of quoting Shakespeare to George Bush’s prodigious reading habits, American politics have always mingled with the literary pantheon. Now that Sarah Palin is back in the news for her endorsement of Donald Trump, Jeet Heer traces her literary roots to Walt Whitman: This is democratic verse, that tries to encompass the […]
...moreKiller Mike Chats with Bernie Sanders
The rapper has made clear his admiration for the presidential candidate before, but the recent hour-long conversation between Killer Mike and Bernie Sanders is more than a token of mutual respect—the discussion stands on its own right as a compelling dialogue on the state of American politics, what it means to be a radical, and […]
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