poetry
-
How To Travel Alone
Some days I come out wrinkled like a jacket / exhumed from a suitcase. Some days / I’m as constant as the last soggy corn flake / at the bottom of a bowl of milk, / that piece that keeps…
-
The Rumpus Late Nite Poetry Show: Nick Lantz
For our first episode of The Rumpus Late Nite Poetry Show, Dave Roderick sits down with poet and playwright Nick Lantz to talk about his latest collection, How To Dance as the Roof Caves In, found poems, self-help manuals, and…
-
National Poetry Month Day 9: “Prophecy: After the Dam” by Camille Dungy
Prophecy: After the Dam the floodplains do bloom_____ the horsetail die+++++ the wheatits thousand thousand eyes eyeing a fat future _____nods and nods never fearing the peasants plant potatoes plant turnips___ radish and carrot even the mice leave the hovels and make camp in the…
-
The Ex-Nazi Poet You’ve Never Heard Of
Prussian poet Gottfried Benn landed on the wrong side of history, supporting Hitler’s government in the early 1930s when it promised solutions to the global economic collapse. But by 1934, his allegiance to the regime ended as it became clear…
-
A Conjoined Book by Karla Kelsey
Kent Shaw reviews Karla Kelsey’s A Conjoined Book today in Rumpus Poetry.
-
The Rumpus Interview with Fred D’Aguiar
British-Guyanese poet, novelist, and playwright Fred D’Aguiar discusses the influence of Jonestown on his work, writing in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre, and the need to pay attention when tragedy comes to your door.
-
Envision a Library Full of Blood
From Portland, Oregon, Black Cake Records is compiling an audio archive of contemporary poets reading their work. As they put it, “We envision a library full of blood. We want the very best blood, & we want it everywhere.” Check…
-
National Poetry Month Day 6: “The Early Minutes of Without” by Michael Klein
The Early Minutes of Without You thought you were spared falling in love with another drunk now that you were sober and could feel the ordinary grain that ran through everything. You were awake in the great city and moved…
-
WANTED: DEATH LAMENT
the dog born March 30th who I will find 6 months from now to know what it’s like to hurl myself down the mountain for the wind to blow right through me
-
If I Don’t Breathe How Do I Sleep by Joe Wenderoth
Eric Dean Wilson reviews Joe Wenderoth’s If I Don’t Breathe How Do I Sleep today in Rumpus Poetry.
-
The Music Behind the Poems
Poetry and music share a word of process — composition — and are linked by negotiations of melody, harmony, rhythm, proportion, and discord. While some poets require silence to compose, many others find that listening to music and writing go…
-
National Poetry Month Day 4: “We Who Bite the Hand” by Jonterri Gadson
We Who Bite the Hand The asses that sit on grocery store eggs praying they will hatch belong to the hands that sever worms and snap beetle’s backs just so we can build a bug hospital with the same fingers that pick…