Another Poem to Love

and "Love Poem Beginning with a Yellow Cab" by José OlivarezThis is a love story. This is the story of how I fell in love with poetry and what it can do to me. Is it going to be corny? Oh hell yes. So let’s get in this TARDIS over here, the dingy one that … Continue reading An Origin Story of Sorts

"One More Attempt at Disaster Preparedness" by Jeannine Hall GaileyI’ve been feeling my age of late, or trying to unfeel it perhaps. My gym app has a “feature” that tells me my biological age, which is of course much higher than my calendar age because for a great many years (read most of my life) … Continue reading Another Poem to Love, Attempt 1

I guess an introduction is as good a place to start as any. I’m Brian Spears. I’ve been a poetry editor at The Rumpus since it went live in 2009, and I published a collection of poems back in 2011 titled A Witness in Exile with Louisiana Literature Press. I have some copies in my … Continue reading Welcome to Another Poem to Love

This is Another Poem to Love.

I'm a little late on mentioning these, but I've had two pieces get some space lately. The first is this poem in HAD, titled "Memory as Matryoshka Doll." It's the first visual/concrete poem I believe I've ever had published, and it deals with some of my childhood sexual abuse trauma and the ways that infected … Continue reading Publication News

I never celebrated the holidays growing up, so I don't have the same childhood memories of Christmas and Santa, reindeer and caroling and all the other things generally linked to this time of year. When I think back about those years, I tend to remember moments of awkwardness, explaining to classmates why I didn't get … Continue reading Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

When the LEGO Movie 2 came out last year (Jesus, was it really only last year? I had to look that up), we saw it in the theaters, twice. Remember when that was a thing? It's a terrific movie, but the one moment that has really resonated with me is the song that comes on … Continue reading Maybe Aim For Not Bad

Back in 2016, when it looked like Donald Trump was going to win the Republican nomination, but before he drew an inside straight into the presidency, my partner Amy and I were talking about what the Republican party was doing to itself and how it didn't have to be this way. As I remember it, … Continue reading Donald Trump and David Duke

Name-changing is in the air. Streets are getting new names, university buildings are getting new names, and people are starting petitions to change the names of their cities, (and seriously, nothing needs to be named Plantation at this point, no matter when the city was founded). And on that note, I'd like to suggest another … Continue reading John Slidell, Loser