My essay on feminine rage, “Doors,” was published in The Rumpus‘s “Enough” column today.

This essay was one I didn’t think I could write. It came about quite by accident, through the encouragement of friends.

My friend Amy Reardon is a generous writer and friend who is always sending me little calls for submissions that she thinks would be a good fit for me. As my friend Jackie DesForges would say, “Bless.”

Amy sent me a link to a call for submissions for “Enough” and suggested I write something about rage. But I didn’t think I had any. Rage? What rage? Then I started thinking about things that make me angry. I began to write them down, and the floodgates opened, as they say.

I have a lot of anger, after all, but like every good girl, I keep it under lock and key. As my friend Anna Reagan would say … well, honestly, I can never predict what Anna will say–she’s the most delightfully unpredictable woman I know.

I’m excited to have something in The Rumpus, a magazine I’ve followed for many years. It’s surreal to be a part of it. Thanks, too, to Deanne Stillman and Paulla Rich Estes for reading this essay and giving me, as always, the best notes.