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Jen Rouse

@jenlrouse.bsky.social

520 followers 1K following 25 posts

Poet 🌈
Fragments of V (Harbor Editions)
A Trickle of Bloom Becomes You (Headmistress Press)

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Jen Rouse

@jenlrouse.bsky.social

Check out this beauty. Honored to be part of Mary Meriam’s anthology.

www.amazon.com/dp/B0DSWCB3F...

Lavender Review: A Taste

Lavender Review: A Taste [Meriam, Mary] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Lavender Review: A Taste

www.amazon.com

January 14, 2025 at 11:27 AM

Jen Rouse

@jenlrouse.bsky.social

Being an Elizabeth Kostova fellow in Bulgaria changed my life in so many amazing ways. Thanks to @ninthletter.bsky.social for featuring the work from all the dear friends I made during that time.

ninthletter.com/2025/01/07/j...?

Jen Rouse – Ninth Letter

ninthletter.com

January 11, 2025 at 4:56 PM

Jen Rouse

@jenlrouse.bsky.social

This little gem from @charhamrick.bsky.social!

Melissa Llanes Brownlee @lumchanmfa.bsky.social · Jan 2

Little Heathens by @charhamrick.bsky.social

Little Heathens

We heard the crick before we saw it, gurgling like a baby at her mamma’s smile. Mud squished between our toes, the cool, clear water showing us reflections of ourselves in all our little heathen glory. That’s what Aunt Dot calls us - little heathens. ‘Course, she says it in a sweet way, not a shaming way like the preacher. Minnows dashed around our ankles like wishful ideas dash around in our heads and we giggled as they tickled our feet. We waded out into the middle of the crick where eddies swirl like tiny tornadoes carrying twigs and bits of bird fluff off to faraway places when we saw a gaggle of amber bottles tied together and weighed down with a big rock. We hollered for Raylene to come see.

She laughed, “Oh that’s just Dale’s home brew coolin’. There’s gonna be a party tonight but don’t y’all say nuthin about it.”

After a while Raylene said as how she needed to get back and did we want to come or stay. We wanted to stay a while, both of us thinking about the rolling papers in our pockets and those bottles of beer. Dale weren’t the only one hiding stuff around the creek.

We each grabbed a beer and rolled a spliff, leaned up under an ole pine and commenced to enter a state of covert enjoyment. We got to talking about Taylor, dancing in her spangly mini with all the fringe jumping like lightning. How her long legs and red lips made us feel all tingly. How we loved to sneak in Raylene’s closet when nobody was home and put on her fancy going-out dresses and high heel shoes and try on her mascara and lipstick. How it weren’t fair that we had to do it in secret and maybe if we ever got outa here, we could just be our own selves and dress up just as fancy as we wanted, and nobody would give a good goddamn.

Charlotte Hamrick’s writing is published in numerous litmags and anthologized in Best Small Fictions 2022 and 2023.

January 5, 2025 at 3:03 PM

Jen Rouse

@jenlrouse.bsky.social

Thank you dearest @writermstone.bsky.social for placing these ethereal beauties in my care. They’re fantastic, as are you!

December 11, 2024 at 8:14 PM

Jen Rouse

@jenlrouse.bsky.social

Can’t wait to make the perfect cookies for these ocean foam ethereal pottery masterpieces from @melostrom.bsky.social. Thank you, dear 💙. ⭐️💫🌟✨

December 7, 2024 at 3:28 AM

Jen Rouse

@jenlrouse.bsky.social

I’ve waited a long time for this one. My first full-length collection. So grateful to be publishing with the fantastic team @smallharborpub.bsky.social! 🧡🧡🧡

Small Harbor Publishing @smallharborpub.bsky.social · Dec 2

Our first title for the 2026 year has been named! 🥳 We can’t wait to bring you Jen Rouse’s “Constant Hum of Elsewhere” early 2026!
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#indiepublishing #indiepublisher #newbook #newpoetry #2026

December 2, 2024 at 3:32 PM

Jen Rouse

@jenlrouse.bsky.social

“And I see now how providing for me so well when she herself was so depleted wasn’t only a saintly feat of motherhood, although it certainly was, but was a kind of lifesaving for her, a serenity.”

This tender and true piece from @writergharlow.bsky.social

Gina Harlow @writergharlow.bsky.social · Nov 27

Because it seems it is always right about now that I think of and miss her the most, I wrote a little something about food, fortune, and my mother.

therootword.substack.com/p/now-to-the...

November 27, 2024 at 11:58 PM

Jen Rouse

@jenlrouse.bsky.social

Let’s be chefs together. Or at least have fun. (Pictured: roasted butternut squash and cauliflower tacos with cotija and cranberry, pumpkin bread pudding, Brie and cranberry compote phyllo squares.)