A Façade of a Woman: R.O. Kwon’s The Incendiaries
It is incredible to crack open an American novel and wince upon seeing parts of yourself reflected back so strikingly.
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Posts Tagged: grief
Hannibal Lecter, My Therapist
In the dark, I felt at home in the underground bunker where the hospital stored its violent men.
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The Reality of Love: Talking with Adrian Todd Zuniga
Adrian Todd Zuniga discusses his debut novel, COLLISION THEORY.
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How I Learned to Hope Again
And in order to hope, I have to once more believe—in the midst of unrelenting dark—that light exists even if I cannot see it.
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The Ritual
It’s not easy being the mother of a dead child. In fact, it may be the hardest kind of mothering there is.
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Splintered Doors
This journey is ongoing. But I know this: my daughter will never have to break down a door.
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The Depths We Don’t Have Words For: Sally Bliumis-Dunn’s Echolocation
[R]eading these poems feels like looking down into deep water, being able to see only so far and no farther.
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Spotlight: “Survivors” by Aubrey Hirsch
But more and more I began to wonder if you needed to be human to be a person.
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On Birds, Cats, and Children
My devotion to the cats was not an imitation of human motherhood. To confuse the two, I thought, was an insult to both.
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Mystery and the Unknown: Talking with Lauren Haldeman
Lauren Haldeman discusses her most recent poetry collection, Instead of Dying, making poetry accessible, and being open to the surprising possibilities of form.
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The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #131: Lisa Wells
“I always feel like I’m starting over. I don’t know how I ever wrote a poem. I really do have that feeling.”
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Rumpus Original Fiction: Even the Moon
When you finished, several minutes passed before we spoke. You dipped a finger in a pool of candle wax. How could I know this was the only real secret you’d ever kept?
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Songs of Our Lives: Jim Carroll’s “People Who Died”
All around me were strangers. All around me were friends. A dark glittering sea of fists. What a terrible, wonderful thing, to be welcomed into this fellowship at last.
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These Women Are Ready to Scream: Danielle Lazarin’s Back Talk
Lazarin has written her heart out chronicling the lives of recognizable girls and women as they come of age, find their footing and chart their path through life’s curves, on their own terms.
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What Did You Expect, Though?
The immune system, meant to protect a body from foreign invaders, works too assiduously, sees danger where there is none, turns on itself. Such conditions lend themselves to metaphor.
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Rumpus Original Fiction: The Typhoon is a Hurricane
She tried her best to be clinical, but his dreaming scared her, made her think of ghosts and aswang stealing pieces of her—little bit by little bit.
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What to Do with My Body in the Event I Die in a Mass Shooting
Don’t join them in their prayers (the god they pray to doesn’t exist).
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Rivers of Babylon: The Story of a Third-Trimester Abortion
She said something to me, then, that has been a great comfort. “You had a choice,” she said, “but you did not have free will.” A choice that was no choice at all.
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The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #120: Jeannie Vanasco
“If you’ve ever seen a video by somebody running and filming at the same time, that’s what the world looked like: shaky, fast, in and out of focus.”
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The Narrator-Guide: A Conversation with Sharon Harrigan
Sharon Harrigan discusses her memoir, Playing with Dynamite, writing through the gaps in memory, and how the book has changed real-life relationships.
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The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #119: Joyce Maynard
“I was diving straight into the wave, right into the source of my greatest grief.”
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Voices on Addiction: Dead Eyes and Bob Barker Crocs
Broken people are drawn to other broken people. Comparing scars. Laying belly to belly. Two similar pieces of different puzzles.
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After the Telling
We want to protect our children from everything, even sometimes ourselves.
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Playing God: A Conversation with Daniel Olivas
Daniel Olivas discusses his recent short story collection, The King of Lighting Fixtures, writing humor, and the role of religion in his work.
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Spotlight: “In Memory Of” by Aubrey Nolan
A comic about remembering a person who has passed away, and how that process changes over time.
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Looking for Ghosts: A Conversation with John Freeman
John Freeman discusses his debut collection of poetry, Maps, displacement, empathy, and trying to find a way forward in the nation and the world.
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