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Kathleen Rooney

@kathleenmrooney

Editor at Rose Metal Press & Professor at DePaul Writings: https://kathleenrooney.com/ Typewritings: http://poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com Man Overboard!: A Novel (July '26): https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Man-Overboard!/Kathleen-Rooney/9781668212387

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06.08.2023
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Latest posts by Kathleen Rooney @kathleenmrooney

Looking grim for Skid Row! But the song—which I didn’t know—is QUITE something, & @meganc.bsky.social’s @marchxness.bsky.social essay on hair metal & cultural shifts (& not-shifts) is fantastic; don’t miss it.

06.03.2026 12:52 👍 9 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0
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Reminder to all of you in Baltimore that our Xness meetup is at 5ish tomorrow at The Pink Flamingo (300 W 30th) just up the street from the Xness event with @splitlippress.com at 6:30 at Greedy Reads REMINGTON

06.03.2026 02:14 👍 12 🔁 8 💬 1 📌 0
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March Sadness 90s Edition A yearly March Madness-style tournament of essays about songs we love (and occasionally loathe)

“It’s helpful to have seen The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and have a (nouvelle) vague sense of the kind of place where you could get stabbed near Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s School of Art.” The best pun of @marchxness.bsky.social award goes to Andrew Schumacher Bethke

marchxness.com#/1stround-hi...

06.03.2026 01:51 👍 7 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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March Sadness 90s Edition A yearly March Madness-style tournament of essays about songs we love (and occasionally loathe)

“Looked at another way, Adam & Eve's departure from Eden is maturation, not failure. Change requires loss, but loss doesn't have to be a tragedy unless you refuse to let go.” @jendireiter.bsky.social ’s @marchxness.bsky.social essay on Lauryn Hill: marchxness.com#/1stround-hi...

06.03.2026 01:37 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Oh hi

06.03.2026 01:07 👍 6 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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March Sadness 90s Edition A yearly March Madness-style tournament of essays about songs we love (and occasionally loathe)

“‘Too bad we’re both too old for him now,’ I text back.”

I love everything about. Emily Podwoiski’s @marchxness.bsky.social essay about Des’ree’s “Kissing You,” including this sick burn of Leonardo DiCaprio.

marchxness.com#/1stround-go...

05.03.2026 22:10 👍 9 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
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March Sadness 90s Edition A yearly March Madness-style tournament of essays about songs we love (and occasionally loathe)

“I have written for this tournament six times, and nearly every single essay has, on some level, been about my fear of actually knowing myself.” It’s always a pleasure to read Moira McAvoy’s @marchxness.bsky.social essays & this year’s on “Iris” is no exception.

marchxness.com

05.03.2026 21:57 👍 10 🔁 4 💬 2 📌 0
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March Sadness 90s Edition A yearly March Madness-style tournament of essays about songs we love (and occasionally loathe)

“NOW you can pivot from Disney kid to sexpot, from harmless reality TV himbo to fascist political monster, from porn star to first lady. You can pivot and pivot until Words no longer mean Things.” I am so into @meganc.bsky.social ’s @marchxness.bsky.social on Skid Row. marchxness.com

05.03.2026 21:51 👍 12 🔁 7 💬 2 📌 0
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March Sadness 90s Edition A yearly March Madness-style tournament of essays about songs we love (and occasionally loathe)

“And so, if I am not blameless, I might have to settle for being forgiven. So, I do. I forgive the girl that I was.”

The way that Cicily Bennion builds up to this ending in her @marchxness.bsky.social essay on “Brick” is amazing.

marchxness.com

05.03.2026 21:39 👍 9 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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If you need to stock up on
@rosemetalpress.bsky.social books, stop by table 639 at the AWP book fair!

05.03.2026 20:41 👍 8 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Right?!

05.03.2026 20:31 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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March Sadness 90s Edition A yearly March Madness-style tournament of essays about songs we love (and occasionally loathe)

The image and text approach that Amy Barnes takes in her @marchxness.bsky.social essay on Lee Ann Womack’s “A Little Past Little Rock” is priceless

marchxness.com

05.03.2026 18:07 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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March Sadness 90s Edition A yearly March Madness-style tournament of essays about songs we love (and occasionally loathe)

“Okay, about the glasses. People roll their eyes at the glasses now, but if you were not there for the glasses you do not understand about the glasses.”

Just read Austin Grossman‘s @marchxness.bsky.social essay on Lisa Loeb‘s stay on my lunch break AWP and it was awesome.

marchxness.com

05.03.2026 17:40 👍 10 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0

🐉

05.03.2026 12:58 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Oh hi

05.03.2026 12:27 👍 9 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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Baltimore! You are beautiful!

04.03.2026 23:34 👍 27 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
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Thomas James’s poems are very good

04.03.2026 22:41 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Cigarette smelling cab > air freshener stinking Lyft

04.03.2026 21:23 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Your essay is amazing!

04.03.2026 18:10 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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March Sadness 90s Edition A yearly March Madness-style tournament of essays about songs we love (and occasionally loathe)

“The most indelible art has something wrong with it, and the best pure-pop songs are logically incoherent.” I’m not a fan of Hootie, but I am a fan of @kjmoulton.bsky.social’s @marchxness.bsky.social essay about them! marchxness.com

04.03.2026 17:56 👍 9 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0

We will be at table 639 in the book fair much of the time and are coming to the reading on Friday!

04.03.2026 17:06 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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March Sadness 90s Edition A yearly March Madness-style tournament of essays about songs we love (and occasionally loathe)

“The economies of language in both Thomas’s encounter and in the lyrics of the song testify to the purity and simplicity of the joy that can emerge from doubt.”

Abigail E. Myers @marchxness.bsky.social essay on Gillian Welch is like church in the very best way! marchxness.com#/1stround-no...

04.03.2026 17:03 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

I loved it! And you will. Martin and I are on our way to the airport right now!

04.03.2026 17:01 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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March Sadness 90s Edition A yearly March Madness-style tournament of essays about songs we love (and occasionally loathe)

"But the crows don’t sound sad at all. They caw and caw, calling to each other, a community whose collective word feels far too violent for its nature."

@mlfaliveno.bsky.social's @marchxness.bsky.social essay on actual crows & Counting Crows!

marchxness.com#/1stround-co...

04.03.2026 16:22 👍 12 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0
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March Sadness 90s Edition A yearly March Madness-style tournament of essays about songs we love (and occasionally loathe)

"Once, I let slip that I couldn’t take my eyes away from the senior who played Bassanio in the school production of The Merchant of Venice."

An excellent blend of school & Shakespeare in M.L. Krishan's @marchxness.bsky.social essay on Savage Garden:

marchxness.com#/1stround-co...

04.03.2026 16:20 👍 6 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0
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March Sadness 90s Edition A yearly March Madness-style tournament of essays about songs we love (and occasionally loathe)

"While hardcore, punk, & various combinations of the two targeted the sources of its listeners’ despair—politics, bigotry, societal conformity, etc. —, emo zeroed in on the despair itself." Brittany Uecker's perceptive @marchxness.bsky.social essay on Mineral:

marchxness.com#/1stround-rh...

04.03.2026 16:10 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1
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March Sadness 90s Edition A yearly March Madness-style tournament of essays about songs we love (and occasionally loathe)

"Anthony Kiedis wrote the song in the aftermath of addiction, not during the frenzy of it, when he was doing my drugs."

Really like the milage @timothygager.bsky.social's @marchxness.bsky.social essay on the Red Hot Chili Peppers gets from that anecdote:

marchxness.com#/1stround-rh...

04.03.2026 16:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Tickets to Chicago Artisan Market - Food, Fashion, Home Goods + Art Get tickets to Chicago Artisan Market. Chicago Artisan Market features the best artisan's in food, fashion, home goods & art in Chicago area & beyond.

Use the code "poems" to get free tickets to this Sunday, March 8th's Chicago Artisan Market, where you can get a hot, fresh Poem While You Wait!

chicagoartisanmarket.com/tickets/

04.03.2026 14:36 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

See you in Baltimore this evening!

04.03.2026 11:33 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

🐦

04.03.2026 11:32 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0