Dear Readers,
We continue to celebrate National Poetry Month by publishing a new poet every day in April. It's our most hectic publishing month of the year and we hope it's something y'all enjoy! I want to say a BIG thank you to our Poetry Editors, Cortney Lamar Charleston, Carolina Ebeid, and Monica Masiello for putting together such a thoughtful lineup.
And, in other big news this month, Cheryl Strayed's "Dear Sugar" column has been turned into a Hulu series called "Tiny Beautiful Things." Originally a Rumpus column, it's wonderful to see how reader's letters have been re-imagined for the screen. |
As always, all the writers we publish retain the rights to their work, so this is not something The Rumpus makes ANY money off of. If you'd like to help us keep our archives like these paywall free for all to access (and, hopefully, agents, producers, and new fans to discover!), please become a monthly or annual Member or DONATE today. We've hovered around 412 Members these past few weeks and really need to hit that 600 mark as soon as possible to cover our very basic operating costs.
Happy reading and viewing!
-Alyson Sinclair / Publisher
p.s. If you're in the Asheville area, tune into "Wordplay" on our community radio station 103.3 this Sunday from 5-6 pm to hear me ramble about the highs and lows of trying to keep an indie lit mag going! |
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 | Originals: National Poetry Month 2023 "There Is Always Space in My Life for More Life" by Natasha Rao:
"Which is why I swallowed the pill on the beach / in the south of France."
"The Lake" by Jon Sands:
"The lake in the middle of the park / rests under a thick patina of algae, surrounded / by maples, oaks, sycamores, cherry blossoms..."
"American Love Story in Rome" by Nathalie Handal:
"I had a dream I left the other side / of myself in New York City, / I have to go back to get it / but I can’t move."
"City Kid Pastoral" by Denice Frohman:
"Flashlight under my right arm / in the dead of night, I half-sprint / back to my cottage clapping / twice to scare the deer, though / I am scared..."
"Good Bully" by Jenny Johnson:
"My first good bully was the leaves. / Their dry cover, their easy weight."
"I." by Jos Charles:
"A fire upon the hillside. / A grave upon the lane. / Plucking that flower from a hiking trail. / Beneath the balcony you call, first time, this initiate, by her name."
"Looking at Houses on Zillow I Know I Can't Afford, I Hurt My Feelings" by Karisma Price:
"Let’s not act like I haven’t been hurt before. This will not be / the last time I have learned how to speak in circles." |
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Originals
"Terra Incognita" by Alexandra Middleton:
"I have trouble locating narratives of motherhood that do not involve a sublimation of the self."
ENOUGH: "Tracing the Sheets" by Kozbi Simmons:
"He lived in the house behind us. We lived in a duplex on Second Street in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania—a small town."
FROM THE ARCHIVES: "Any Good Wife" by Ada Zhang. Originally published on The Rumpus in 2018 and forthcoming in Ada's debut short story collection The Sorrows of Others out from A Public Space in May 2023. |
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Interviews & Reviews
Julie Carrick Dalton, humans, bees, and hope (an interview)
Weishun Lu reviews Ada Calhoun’s Also A Poet
Leila Chatti, relinquishing control (an interview)
Randy James reviews Luther Hughes' A Shiver in the Leaves |
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Rumpus MAY Book Club Picks |
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Every month subscribers receive a book in the mail handpicked by The Rumpus staff.Now through midnight on April 15, you can sign up for our May Poetry Book Club pick West: A Translation by Paisley Rekdal and/or our prose Book Club pick The Lost Journals of Sacajewea by Debra Magpie Earling.
As a subscriber, you'll also be invited to an exclusive online video discussion with the book's author + a Rumpus Editor. Subscribers are encouraged to join in the chat with their questions before and during the conversations. These will take place on the Rumpus' Crowdcast channel and will remain available to subscribers for 1 month after they take place. |
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West: A Translation by Raisley Rekdal
A hybrid collection of poems that respond to an anonymous Chinese poem carved into the walls of the Angel Island Immigration Station. Subscribe to the Poetry Book Club by April 15 to receive your copy in early May and join the author-editor conversation.
"瞑目/Close Eye"
"When I was five a man / found me on my corner, asked / in German if I was hungry. And when / I told him yes he took my hand / and led me to St Dominic’s where there / was bread and milk and sometimes meat, where there / was Daisy who snapped her fingers / in matron’s face and said that she was sick / of looking after little/ boys like me." |
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Letters in the Mail (from authors!) |
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 | Letters in the Mail from authors is a Rumpus subscription in which you receive an actual, postmarked letter from one of our favorite writers in your IRL mailbox twice a month. All letters are non-promotional, include a creative prompt, and have a return mailing address in case you'd like to write the author back! Up next, author letters from . . .
April 15: Erica Berry
May 1: Anne Elizabeth Moore |
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A special thank you to this month's sponsor Poetry magazine! |
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We're trying something new with half or full month ad partners for the site and/or our weekly e-newsletter in the hopes of having a more solid way of supporting the work we do at The Rumpus. This also allows us to have more say in who we work with vs. automated ads feeding through our site.
If you're interested in sharing the work you do as a publisher, literary organization, author, or other member of the literary community, please reach out to Monica at ads@therumpus.net. We are currently looking for sponsorship partners for May and beyond!
*If you're a Rumpus Member, editor, or volunteer reader, email hello@therumpus.net your upcoming literary-related events or classes and we'll do our best to include them in an upcoming free weekly newsletter. We appreciate you supporting the work WE do and would like to pay it forward. |
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Rumpus Editor and Member Recommendations |
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 | Anna Lathrop, Deb Sivigny, & Tia Shearer Bassett present Edward and Christine, a live Zoom poem-play where Kenneth Koch's epic out-of-order love story is performed by one actor, a variety of objects, a slew of fake mustaches and a heap of fan-girl love.
More information here. |
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Reader Support Keeps The Rumpus Going! |
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| Founded in 2009 in San Francisco, CA and now based in Asheville, NC with readers and editors all over the US and abroad, The Rumpusis one of the longest-running independent online literary and culture magazines. Our mostly volunteer-run magazine strives to be a platform for risk-taking voices and writing that might not find a home elsewhere. We lift up new voices alongside those of more established writers readers already know and love. Often, we are an emerging writer's first notable publication, which is something we’re really proud of. We believe that literature builds community—and if reading The Rumpus makes you feel more connected, please show your support! Our Membership and subscription programs along with tax-deductible donations made to The Rumpus through our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas, help keep us going and brings us closer to sustainability. |
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