Rumpus Original Poems
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National Poetry Month Day 7: “Cafe Space” by James Hoch
Café Space Here comes backwash from apocalypse gamey as last night’s monastery potluck. Did you have the goat bleating from the roof of a floating house, its song as old as warning?
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National Poetry Month Day 6: “Swim Lesson No. 3” by Wendy Willis
Swim Lesson No. 3 Syracuse, New York June 2012 I can’t find my bearings in this landlocked country, riverless and briny. Not waterless exactly but curveless and motionless, a chlorophyll kingdom. A viney
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National Poetry Month Day 4: “Sawed-Through Link” by Marilyn Nelson
Marilyn Nelson, today’s featured poet, wrote a series of ghazals to accompany some images by illustrator Philippe Lardy, who gave us permission to include a copy of the painting which inspired Nelson’s poem. Sawed-Through Link
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National Poetry Month Day 3: “To Biespiel From United Flight 1037” by David Biespiel
To Biespiel From United Flight 1037 — Greensboro to Atlanta Dear Brother — I used to think of death all the time, And then for a time I didn’t, or didn’t try to, And now I do not expect to…
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National Poetry Month Day 2: “To Mercury, In Retrograde” by Randall Mann
To Mercury, In Retrograde This ointment isn’t helping. This clinic isn’t free. The nurse’s favorite movie is Penitentiary III.
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National Poetry Month Day 1: “To Find Stars In Another Language” by Elizabeth Bradfield
Elizabeth Bradfield wrote the first poem we published here on The Rumpus, so I’m pleased to have her kick off this year’s National Poetry Month project. Elizabeth’s poem is more than just a written piece, however: it’s a collaboration between…
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“I Growed No Potatoes To Write About, Sir”: a Rumpus Original Poem by Erin Belieu
I Growed No Potatoes To Write About, Sir nor bogs, nor fathers, nor special water that was my place alone to make me hard and wise— I did not sow nor bury, nor even try to fudge my nothings in…
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“Feather”: A Rumpus Original Poem by Deborah Ager
Feather Somehow, I thought you’d want to eat alone, A state you’d grown to master—brandy glass, A man behind your chair to fill your plate, A girl to bring you chocolate mousse, then candy. As another poet wrote: What do…
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“The Tornado Collects the Animals”: a Rumpus Original Poem by Catherine Pierce
The Tornado Collects the Animals The tornado likes animals because they pay attention. The tornado sees the dogs howling up from rippling yards, the cows huddled mutely against one another, a sparrow pulsing its wings hard to stay stationary. The…
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“Southern Wind, Clear Sky”: A Rumpus Original Poem by Elisa Gabbert and Kathleen Rooney
Southern Wind, Clear Sky Hokusai says the morning is clear, but it’s never really clear around Mount FujiMount Fuji is an active volcano, so we can never get entirely comfortable People have their theories, but nobody knows for sure what…
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“Transmittency”: A Rumpus Original Poem by Rachel Loden
Transmittency I stand by what I said. I stand by it or next to it. I peer over the gazebo at what I said, the way it flowers in the darkness, mysteriously,