From the Archive: Rumpus Original Fiction—The Christmas Party
I laugh. My laugh, this thing that sounds better on somebody else.
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Join NOW!I laugh. My laugh, this thing that sounds better on somebody else.
...moreTelevision babysat our family—our thirteen-channel set, reception via a rooftop antenna.
...moreAddiction steals your integrity. Your freedom, too.
...moreJudith Santopietro discusses TIAWANAKU. POEMAS DE LA MADRE COQA/POEMS FROM THE MOTHER COQA.
...moreI’m saying people can be imperfect and still be remembered as beautiful.
...moreIt’s the atmosphere. The temperature. What lies between thee and me.
...moreWhen I imagine his days, the loneliness of it all makes my chest tighten.
...moreAlways present and never heard, like the pain I feel but don’t know how to share.
...moreA Rumpus series of work by women and non-binary writers that engages with rape culture, sexual assault, and domestic violence.
...moreJason Allen discusses his debut novel, THE EAST END.
...moreA Rumpus series of work by women and non-binary writers that engages with rape culture, sexual assault, and domestic violence.
...moreI am not coked out of my mind, I’m coked into my mind.
...moreThe brain in the jar wants out, you know. It just can’t do anything about it.
...moreThe day after Hugh Hefner died, I received a text from my sister that our grandfather was starring alongside James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal in HBO’s new series, The Deuce.
...moreShe never stopped, a bee buzzing from flower to flower to flower, collecting all the sweetness she could.
...moreJoshua Mohr discusses his memoir Sirens, writing for his daughter, and why he values art that trusts its audience.
...moreWhat I’m saying is I was a fucking wreck and it’s not my dad’s fault.
...moreSomething about the twangy banjo and the melancholy vocals just made me feel less alone. And I hated being alone.
...moreFor Mother, two worlds—earth we inhabit together, then the hot, heavenly body of euphoria and speed. Often, Mother exists in the tear between these worlds, belonging nowhere, to no one.
...moreWe were all free-falling, and there was no one, nothing, to catch us.
...moreShe studies you, still panting with an energy that consumes the room, and whispers in a reedy voice: “They say you fucked up your heart.”
...moreWe will never be an exclamation point, an ellipses, a question mark. We must all leave with this: a period—solid, and utterly irrefutable.
...morePlankton either grows into something other than plankton—a strong swimming non-planktonic adult, like a crab or a fish, or it stays the same—forever drifting with the shifting tides.
...moreVickie Stringer talks about her first novel Let That Be the Reason, her Triple Crown Publishing venture, life in prison, and making hip-hop literature.
...moreAll the same, I’m as much a slave to necessity as anyone here. Fear and desire rule the heart. The paycheck has me leashed and basically obedient.
...moreOne of the least talked-about and most heartfelt tracks off Vince Staples’s identify-defining album, Summertime ’06, dispenses with the bravado of his other lyrics. At the same time, “Jump Off The Roof” showcases the fatalism and lyrical prowess that have garnered the 22-year-old Staples so much praise. Dissonant background vocals and a modest backbeat help to make this […]
...moreIn 1863, chemist Angelo Mariani created Vin Mariani, a combination of Bordeaux wine and coca leaves (you know, where cocaine comes from). As you can imagine, it was an instant hit. Advertisements promised to “restore health and vitality,” cure malaria, and be “especially adapted to children.” Many believed in the medicinal properties of alcohol at […]
...moreThe last time I’d been to my father’s grave was the previous winter, for the dedication ceremony for his headstone. The wind gusted, bone-cold, and I didn’t stay long. I wondered if Dad brokered a deal with God to make the weather unpleasant just to get back at me.
...moreFor the Public Domain Review, Richard Millington explores the influence of cocaine on the poetry of Georg Trakl and compares it to the ways other artists’ addictions have shown up in their work.
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