The Rumpus Poetry Book Club Chat with Khadijah Queen
Khadijah Queen about her new collection I’m So Fine, the importance of including sexual assault as a part of everyday life, and how the poems in the collection found their form.
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Posts Tagged: Muhammad Ali
Binary States of America: A Letter to Obama
In the end, although I wanted you to be more like Charles Bronson or Malcolm or Luke Cage, I am very proud to have witnessed your historic presidency—the successes, and even the disappointments.
...moreHometown Hero
At BuzzFeed, Tracy Clayton reflects on returning home to Louisville for Muhammad Ali’s funeral and the ways in which a place and its people can attempt to hold each other: You want to dismantle it and start all over and you also want to protect it from the opinions of people who don’t understand its […]
...moreWeekend Rumpus Roundup
First, the irreverent Eaton Hamilton recounts her history with pulmonary illness in gripping detail in the Saturday Essay. Hamilton, an aspiring animal researcher, discards her educational goals when the reality of her condition is revealed. Paralleling her story to the macabre qualities of the vampire bat, she takes a clinical approach with her descriptions. “This essay is not […]
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The Sunday Rumpus Essay: What’s in a Name? A Tale of Two Alis and Three Muhammads
Few things are as important to me as my name.
...moreThe Perfect Prism: Muhammad Ali and Literature
For the New York Times, Richard Sandomir investigates how Muhammad Ali influenced literature, as his life story functions as “the perfect prism through which to view sports, race, religion, politics, celebrity, comedy, tragedy.”
...moreRemembering the Boxing Poet
He flipped similes and metaphors like a battle rapper holding court in a cipher that was his and his alone. Even his jabs were like couplets that told you more about yourself than you could have ever hoped to know. NPR reflects on the legacy of the late Muhammad Ali, an artist who fought for […]
...moreRespect for Muhammad Ali
Bob Dylan released a statement following the boxer’s death. Dylan responded to the news that the 74-year-old legend passed away by referencing the man’s self-proclaimed title, “the greatest”: If the measure of greatness is to gladden the heart of every human being on the face of the earth, then he truly was the greatest. In every way he […]
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Paper Trumpets #17: Matador Ali
I watched the video of the fight online but the camera angle lowers so you don’t get to see this famous moment.
...moreThe Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #6: Royal Young in Conversation with Alexander Pridgen
I was sitting in a hospital chair by the mechanical bed of Muhammad Ali’s ex-bodyguard, Alexander Pridgen. After years of lavishing in limelight as well as dealing with the dark, violent flipside to fame, Pridgen was a patient at Rivington House, a residence on New York’s Lower East Side for people with AIDS and HIV. […]
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