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Laura Ruby

@thatlauraruby

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Writer. Teacher. Student. Cat lover. Author of THIRTEEN DOORWAYS, WOLVES BEHIND THEM ALL, (now in paperback!) BONE GAP, and York trilogy.

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Waited till pub day to unbox my copy of WITNESS: Poems to Adress the Past, Present, and Future of Policing, edited by @aritisonwrites and @ty_chapmn, with stunning artwork by @damondavis. It’s so beautiful, and the poetry in this volume is heartbreaking and rageful and hopeful and everything in between. I’m so pleased and proud to have a poem included in this amazing book along with work by some of the best poets working today.

And if you’re in the Minneapolis area, you can attend the launch party at New City Center, MPLS, TONIGHT, 9/1 at 7 pm, featuring readers/contributors @danez_smif, @guantesolo, @bb_zhigaag, @sunyungshin, @ollieschminkey, @alicegpaige and Carolyn Holbrook, hosted by editors Ari and Ty. I’m sure it will be amazing!

Edit:

Here’s the complete list of contributors:

Kauakanilehua Māhoe Adams

D. R. Bernstrom

Fong Li Blessing

Ty Chapman

Kinsale Drake

Margarita Engle

Amanda Gorman

Ronald Greer

Nikki Grimes

Carolyn Holbrook

Kari Anne Holt

Douglas Kearney

Tae Keller

Erin Entrada Kelly

Halee Kirkwood

Michael Kleber-Diggs

Ada Limón

Mariama J. Lockington

W. J. Lofton

Kyle Carrero Lopez

Kekla Magoon

Kyle Tran Myhre

Alice Paige

Junauda Petrus

Bao Phi

Jason Reynolds

Karuna Riazi

Laura Ruby

Aida Salazar

Hannah V. Sawyerr

Ollie Schminkey

Taiwana Shambley

Sun Yung Shin

Danez Smith

Ari Tison

Padma Venkatraman

Jasmine Warga

Kao Kalia Yang

#poetry #poets #policing #Witnessanthology #launchday by @thatlauraruby

Saw Brandi Carlile at the Ravinia Festival with some friends on Wednesday night, the day after Dolly Parton died. Perfect place to be. (Just be, which has been too hard for me lately). Moved to write about it, just because.

#poetry #dollyparton #brandicarlile by @thatlauraruby

My elderly diva, Milo, and Seamus, the little gremlin who is currently making Milo’s life hell.

#cats #caturday #internationalcatday #catsofinstagram by @thatlauraruby

I have a new poem up at @rattlemagazine today, “My Revenge Era.” (Link to the piece in my bio). This piece is a part of their “Poets Respond” series, and I was responding to the breathless reports of Mitch McConnell’s illness and disappearance. When I was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, I named my tumor ‘Mitch’ after McConnell. In the years since, my oncologist and I have debated the name, whether McConnell was truly the worst, whether the man is a cancer. (Why yes, yes, he is.) After McConnell fell ill a few weeks ago, I assumed his death was imminent, and that I would have the satisfaction of outliving him at the very least. Yet, here we are, with McConnell still alive (allegedly), and the press gone mad with speculation. I had no intention of writing about McConnell, but the never-ending news about him got me thinking about injustice, about the good people whose lives are cut short and the terrible people who plague the rest of us for decades, seeming to gain strength the more damage they do. And it got me thinking about revenge—the fantasy of it, the point and the pointlessness of it—and my own weird fascination with revenge movies.

Monday, July 27th, I’ll be on the Rattlecast, Rattle’s podcast, to read the poem. 8 pm Eastern/7pm Central. You can find the podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube. #poem #poetsofinstagram #poetry #poets by @thatlauraruby

A few months ago, my 80-plus yo mom told me a friend’s granddaughter was marrying a non-binary person. She asked me what “non-binary” means, as she said she wasn’t sure she was clear on it. Since I’m not non-binary myself, I did my best to define it for her, to describe it for her. I wish I’d had this poem by @danez_smif with me, I wish I could have read it to her, because it says all of the things I was trying to get at but couldn’t quite articulate. And because it’s so, so beautiful.

#poem #poetry #poetsofinstagram #danezsmith #internationalnonbinarypeoplesday by @thatlauraruby

Baby monster.

#cat #catstagram #cats_of_instagram #ragdoll_cats_of_insta #seamustherumblebear by @thatlauraruby

Proud of my son.

#cats #catstagram #catsofinstagram #kitten #seamustherumblebear by @thatlauraruby

Beast mode activated.

#cats #catstagram #kitten #ragdollcats #seamustherumblebear by @thatlauraruby

My new boyfriend is cute, but a wee bit bitey.

Everybody, this is Seamus*. Seamus, this is everybody.

(*Seamus the Rumble Bear)

#cats #cats_of_instagram #kitten #babycat #ragdollkitten by @thatlauraruby

It’s the last day of Poetry Month, so I wanted to say how honored I am to have a poem in this forthcoming anthology, WITNESS, edited by @ty_chapmn and @aritisonwrites. In it, poets wrestle with the past, present, and future of policiing. It inclues work by our fabulous editors, as well as pieces by @poetrynikki, @jasonreynolds83, @keklamagoon, @erinentrada, @tae_keller, @danez_smif (!!!) and the incredible @adalimonwriter (one of my former advisors at Queens University), and so many others. To be included in this company….well, I don’t have the words! I can’t wait to read the entire collection.

#poetrymonth #poetrymonth2026 #poetofinstagram #writing #writers by @thatlauraruby

Thrilled to have a short story in THE PINK BOOK, edited by @as_king_ . ASK wanted stories about fighting the patriarchy/oligarchy, but wanted contributors to lean into the surreal, the fantastical, the deeply and truly weird. I had so much fun writing “The Howlers,” and I can’t wait to read the rest of the collection. Includes work by @anndavilacardinal @venkatraman.padma @marthabee @jacqueline_woodson @marikotamaki @charliejaneanders @cynthialeitichsmith and Shannon Gibney.

#YA #youngadult #shortfiction #writersofinstagram #book by @thatlauraruby