@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
“It does hum. It does have this visual and auditory drone. Like blood through a body, in a sense, the hum.” I like how Cooper Dart’s @marchxness.bsky.social essay is as much about neon itself as the song “Neon Moon” (which I almost picked to write about myself)
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“If you could choose how to spend your last year, would you pick falling in love?” Chelsea Biondolillo’s @marchxness.bsky.social essay is gorgeous & so sad.
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“Do core memories mean what you thought they meant, and did the events you remember ever happen, or happen in that way, at that time, in that place?” Good questions in Ryan Carter’s @marchxness.bsky.social essay on “Hey Jealousy”
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I love how Annie Zaleski’s @marchxness.bsky.social essay on “Your Ghost” lets Hersh have the last word “My life experience plays a huge part in these songs, but I don’t think they’re stories about me. Everybody I’ve ever lost is in that song.” So sad!
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“It’s said that in US culture men aren’t allowed to express sadness, only anger. Music, country and blues especially, is one of the vanishingly rare places where men are celebrated for doing both.” Always fun to see @marchxness.bsky.social stalwart @levin.bsky.social
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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.
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
“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
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“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...
Oh hi
“‘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.
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“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.
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“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
“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.
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If you need to stock up on
@rosemetalpress.bsky.social books, stop by table 639 at the AWP book fair!
Right?!
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
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“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.
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🐉
Oh hi
Baltimore! You are beautiful!
Thomas James’s poems are very good
Cigarette smelling cab > air freshener stinking Lyft
Your essay is amazing!
“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
We will be at table 639 in the book fair much of the time and are coming to the reading on Friday!
“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...
I loved it! And you will. Martin and I are on our way to the airport right now!
"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!
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"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:
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