Rumpus Original Poetry: Four Poems by Diane Seuss
Tragic spectacle my realm. I its ruthless queen.
...more
Posts Tagged: poems
Rumpus Original Poetry: Three Poems by Andrés Cerpa
I have stood above the labyrinth / & touched what is not there
...more
Rumpus Original Poetry: Three Poems by Joy Priest
Whole ecosystems, / the country’s fauna, built through / our long blood.
...more
Above All, Time: A Conversation with Beth Bachmann
Poet Beth Bachmann discusses her new collection, CEASE.
...more
Every Moment Is a Poem: A Conversation with with Ailey O’Toole
Ailey O’Toole discusses her forthcoming chapbook, GRIEF, AND WHAT COMES AFTER.
...more
Rumpus Original Poetry: Three Poems by Shira Erlichman
The forest grew around me. Trees / on streets, walking or waiting.
...more
Rumpus Original Poetry: Three Poems by Michael Wasson
now tell me / we’ll make it // to the end / of our unanswerable lives
...more
Poet-Cosmologist: A Conversation with Bruce Beasley
“The cusp of errand and awe is where poetry always is for me.”
...more
Voices on Addiction: Four Poems by Nick Flynn
Behind DOOR NUMBER ONE / is a hammer, to break the wings off angels.
...more
Rumpus Original Poetry: Three Poems by Kristin Chang
Like any good wick // I wear a gown of wax.
...more
Rumpus Original Poetry: Three Poems by José Olivarez
is it loyalty that keeps us / from tossing what’s not useful?
...more
Rumpus Original Poetry: Three Poems by Eve L. Ewing
They look / for a lash that isn’t there, even them that never felt it. / It’s in their shoulders. / The lash lives in their shoulders.
...more
Rumpus Original Poetry: Three Poems by Morgan Parker
I am only as lonely / as anybody else, I say / at lunch downtown, examining / my worth.
...more
Rumpus Original Poetry: Three Poems by Jennifer Givhan
Good thing we hadn’t held the chrysalid funeral yet. The two butterflies emerged. Damaged wings but reborn.
...more
Rumpus Original Poetry: Four Poems by Sumita Chakraborty
I have not been able to build the etymology of love. / The word, in its weight, is an eclipse.
...more
Rumpus Original Poetry: Two Poems by Hanif Abdurraqib
If you really must know, the main difference / between fame and infamy is the number of / mornings / you wake up alone.
...more
Rumpus Original Poetry: Three Poems from Erica Wright
Don’t say gun next to children. // What gun? What children? / The only ones here are invisible.
...more
Rumpus Original Poetry: Two Poems by Safia Elhillo
with my teeth i understand my lover’s waist / we worship at each other’s throats / i am not afraid of men only of forgiving
...more
Rumpus Original Poetry: Two Poems by Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers
& suddenly we seemed to know nothing // but the evaporating world, / not one of us fit // to last.
...more
Rumpus Original Poetry: Two Poems by Carolina Ebeid
All the horrible days arriving—listen— / the children stretch their spans // before tombstones practicing fame
pretending corpse-life
Rumpus Original Poetry: Three Poems by Cortney Lamar Charleston
All the imaginary people I knew always started / their imaginary stories saying “I,” which always exposed them / as fools.
...more
Rumpus Original Poetry: Two Poems by Jory Mickelson
Hello, said the sea // though it would not recognize itself.
...more
Rumpus Original Poetry: Four Poems by P.E. Garcia
call me to the house / of the unheard // take the kudzu of whispers / from the windows & say each name
...more
Rumpus Original Poetry: Two Poems by Christine No
So you haven’t made the / Short drive home / Scared of what other silence she’s / Tucked in the lines on her forehead, / Gathered around her mouth
...more
Rumpus Original Poetry: Three Poems by Rachel McKibbens
I cut off my nose, / her nose collapses. / Chop down my hair & / hers shrieks from the sink. / How many poems do I / have to write ‘til she / gets dead, how many / live-wire syllables?
...more
Rumpus Original Poetry: Four Poems by Maggie Smith
What do we do? We birth the new citizens / & answer their bodies with our bodies. // We rock the new citizens to sleep. / We clothe them with skin & stamp // their passports with milk.
...more
Rumpus Original Poetry: Four Poems by Elizabeth Schmuhl
I am the storm in my front porch and I am moving, / a threat to this home and everything in it.
...moreFighting the Erasure of Poet Liu Xia
Liu Xia is a Chinese poet. Her husband, Liu Xiaobo, the Nobel Laureate and dissident, died recently in prison. Liu Xia, who has been under strict house arrest for ten years, remains unable to speak or travel freely. Friends who have tried to contact her have failed. Reporters who have tried to visit her home […]
...more
A Poethead’s Guide to the Galaxy: Talking with David Hernandez
David Hernandez discusses his most recent poetry collection, Dear, Sincerely, working across multiple genres, and why the act of making anything is a kind of optimism.
...more