Megan Falley's Blog, page 17

OCTOBER 2014

This is the month that, after so much time and energy and love and brutality and honesty was put into writing it, I held a copy of my second full-length collection of poetry in my hands. And went on tour with it. First to Boston. Then to Minneapolis. Then to Portland, Oregon. Then to Spokane. Then Virginia. I was, and still am, so proud of this book. Redhead and the Slaughter King. Since it’s publication, I found my shows were more dynamic, and that I was selling out of copies at nearly every gig. People were hungry for the new book, and I felt I could thank the groundwork I laid down when I went on the 100 day tour in 2012 for that. Being on the road and doing shows is my favorite part of my job so this was a really gorgeous month for me. Thank you to all the people I met along the way, who supported and shared with me.

Here’s a photo of me holding my new book for the first time. My hands were shaking so I’m surprised the picture is clear.

Other Highlights:

-I finished reading The Color Purple by Alice Walker which was one of the most incredible books I’ve ever read.
-I read The God of Small Things which is a beautiful perfect masterpiece that I hope everyone reads in their lifetime. 
-Miles and I carved great Jack-O-Lanterns, my first time since college, and we were Bob & Linda Belcher from Bob’s Burgers for Halloween and I threw a big party with a “photo booth” and all the snacks and it was the best.

SEPTEMBER 2014

September has been an important month for me consistently because with each anniversary of the 10th, it marks how many years I’ve succeeded at being a full-time artist. This September marked two years of working as a teacher, writer, and touring poet, and while this sort of life is not for everyone, so far it has been an invaluable experience for me.

One thing that’s scary about being a full-time writer (performer/teacher/promoter/planner - let’s be real) is that I often feel that I am never NOT working. Sometimes I envy those who can clock in and out of their jobs, who don’t take their work into bed with them and answer it first thing in the morning. Going on an actual vacation is not something I really ever do (even though I travel often) and this month Miles booked us a room at The Graham & Co in Phoenicia, New York (in the Catskills) where we chilled and adventured hard. We swam in the pool, read books, saw black bears just feet from us, climbed mountains, ate the most incredible strawberry rhubarb pies and ice cream, tubed down the Esopus River, drank gin and played Scrabble and cards, sat by the bonfire, and rode the free bikes (that you didn’t have to lock up!) into town. 

It was a really simple, beautiful, revitalizing time. We were so deep into the mountains that often our phones didn’t work, and it felt really great to slow down for a bit. To take it easy. To just be. 

Here’s a photo of me literally and metaphorically at the top of a mountain.

Other Highlights:

-Taking both dogs up to New Paltz and going apple-picking, swimming, and visiting a farm in Kerhonkson.
-A going away party for my brother and his girlfriend, who moved to Florida together. Even though it was sad to see him leave, I knew it was an important step in his life.
-Performing at a little Write Bloody Poetry Show with Jade Sylvan, Miles Walser, and Derrick Brown in Jamaica Plain.

AUGUST 2014

August! My birthday month. Me in all my Leo Glory. The year I turn twenty-six and feel kind of old for the first time. But also astonishingly young even though I am suddenly unqualified for certain boxes on certain forms that stop at 25. 

It seems like my entire summer has been building up towards August, towards The National Poetry Slam. All the practices and scrimmages and poems and workshops have brought us here, to Oakland, California. I love my team and I am proud of the poems we are bringing, the work we do. Olivia is pretty much my soul sister at this point, and it’s been years since I’ve been close with cis straight boys the way I am with Omar, Anthony, and Jared.

And apparently, all of that pays off when, out of 72 teams, we take second place.

Of course, on the last day in Oakland, when all of us are crying about how much we love each other, how much the summer has meant to us, blubbering into our beers about racism and sexism and friendship and support in the face of those things, that felt more like a win than anything I’ve ever known. 

Here’s a photo of us claiming our trophy (which we’d later pose with in our hotel room, including a shirtless one of Omar with it. Again, HERE IS MY INSTAGRAM. You’re welcome.)

Other Highlights:

-We take Cujo to the groomers for a haircut, they shave him entirely, so much so that when we go to pick him up I think they gave us the wrong dog. But he is so cute and silky underneath all that mangy fur and I actually fall in love with him on a whole new level. 
-For my birthday, Miles got me a record player. So the month was a lot of listening to Ella Fitzgerald, Cat Stevens, Lou Reed, but mostly both Lana Del Rey records, especially Ultraviolence, on Vinyl. 
-Andrea Gibson in general, who could be my dad.

JULY 2014

July is so intensely devoted to poets and poetry this year. Urbana has practices at least twice a week for a couple of hours, and I actually look forward to them. I’ve been on several slam teams and practices can often be a drag, but every time I bike over to Jared or Olivia’s, or prepare my own apartment with snacks based on the very different tastes of Omar Holmon and Anthony Ragler, I feel like I really lucked out. The team bonding is real, and it’s obvious that the dynamic of our squad is fire by the laughing in practices but also the way we slay most of our scrimmages. 

The Poetry of New York Camp is also happening, and we meet every Saturday at places like Coney Island, The Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn Bridge Park, and Prospect Park. It’s obvious that everyone really enjoys camp — and the poems that come out of the prompts floor me weekly. I make a mental note to do this as many summers as I can.

I also attend the Pink Door Writing Retreat for the second year at Rachel McKibben’s house, where I am blessed to be in the presence of so many smart, talented, generous women/gender-queer writers. We camp out in her backyard, do workshops in the day, and gorgeous readings at night. I know I am lucky to be a part of it.

It’s really hard to pick just one picture to encapsulate the month but I am going to go with this one. All my campers eating potato chip infused ice cream on the water, with no idea how brave their poems are about to get. 

Other Highlights:
-Great rooftop fourth of July party at Jared’s.
-Eating the best veggies and eggs from our local CSA share.
-Conversations with kind people who are much smarter than me, like, all of the time. 

JUNE 2014

June might be the most eventful month of my year. Or, at least, it sparked a real adventure-filled summer. A friend of my mother had a son who stole her credit card, went to a pet store, and bought a really expensive Yorkshire Terrier puppy. Unfortunately, the kid had no idea what a puppy entails as far as training and waking up and cleaning and sleeplessness (and oh god if you’re going to get a dog, adopt a slightly older dog who needs a home. This is my plea to you. One of my few morals that will never ever change.) My mom offered to watch the puppy for like, a week, so obviously I drove as quickly as I could to her house to meet him. His name was JoJo at the time (confusing, because that’s what we sometimes call our pomeranian who lives at my mom’s house, full name Josie) and within 3 seconds of walking in he was rambunctious and jumping on Taco, my chihuahua. “Calm down, Cujo” Miles said.

And so he was named. And we did not know it then, but he was ours. 

The story of our acquisition of Cujo is long, hilarious, heartbreaking maybe, but needless to say — we went from having one puppy who slept til noon and only needed to be walked twice a day, to TWO puppies — the newest of which woke us up at 3AM and cried through the night and was so poorly trained that he did not know he could ever pee in front of humans (let alone outside), who chewed through expensive cords, ruined electronics, ate our books, and wormed his way into our hearts forever regardless. I can see a very distinct marker when I look back on my year. Everything before June takes place in B.C. (Before Cujo).

Despite basically having a furry newborn, life managed to stay exciting. Due to some planning in the winter, Miles and I were able to see Tegan and Sara in concert, as well as The National (and several other bands) with VIP seating at the Prospect Park Summer Stage. I was working diligently on editing Redhead and the Slaughter King (with the help of Sean Patrick Mulroy, Jeanann Verlee, and Jared Singer). Urbana team practices were happening twice a week and, still reeling after the Elliot Rogers, my teammate Olivia Gatwood and I started writing about it, discussing feminism, and generally making each other laugh forever. I also started PONYCamp [The Poetry of New York] - a summer camp for children at heart in which we explored New York and wrote poems based on the themes its locales. It’s hard to pinpoint what the best part of my summer was, really. 

I could certainly post pictures of all these latter adventures to represent the month, but it would be dishonest to ignore what a huge part the adoption of Cujo was. So here he is, the day we had to get him neutered because Taco was not fixed and then found out, at 6AM that morning, than a fixed boy dog could still get an unfixed female dog pregnant for up to a month. So Taco had to get fixed too. In all their crown-collar and drugged up glory, Taco and Cujo, June A.C.

Other Highlights:
-Team Urbana winning our first regional poetry slam bout and generally feeling psyched about how strong our team was.
-Running into the Ocean with Olivia and Sarah Kerson at Coney Island, post PONYCamp.
-Taking Miles to his first Bat Mitzvah where we plotzed over all the food! 

MAY 2014

The physical achievement of the five borough bike tour was something really momentous for me. I’ve had a narrative in my head since I was young that I am smart and funny but not athletic. Clever and talented but not in shape. Training and being able to ride 40 miles in one day, to achieve something with my body, was huge for me, and a turning point in my brain. It was like giving the middle finger to everything I’ve ever told myself about myself — and while I’d achieved a lot so far this year — this felt like the biggest thing. The insurmountable suddenly mounted. To be honest, because of that ongoing chatter in my brain, I forgot about the weight of this accomplishment a little bit until writing it now (because that’s how our myths operate) but I am committed to continue rewriting that narrative in 2015. I chose this photo of me at the start of the race because duh. 

This month I also win the poetry chapbook contest with Tired Hearts Press with my book [ that I’d compiled since I started the 365 poems thing ] about Lana Del Rey. I also tried out for the Urbana Poetry Slam Team and made it — an event that would come to shape my summer entirely. 

Other Highlights:
-Impromptu trip to New Paltz on Memorial Day.
-Our annual Mother’s Day spent in Coney Island, riding the Cyclone.
-Practicing forearm and headstands in yoga and achieving them for the first time. Against the wall. But still. 

APRIL 2014

It’s National Poetry Month, and usually my year in reviews are all about the glory of writing daily in April, but because I’ve so far written a poem every day in the year, everything feels a little different. In an attempt to still contribute and inspire my fellow poets, I decide to post a poetry prompt per day at my Facebook Author Page (which I finally conceded to make). The days lessen their cruelness so I spend a lot of time exploring New York: picnics in the park, visiting the Greenwood Cemetery, The Brooklyn Flea, biking to Queens with Miley, going to poetry shows in Manhattan again, writing outdoors, and generally thinking that like is OK and has a candy center. I chose this photo because I was wearing very dark lipstick and brooding in a cemetery and that just feels like what should be done in National Poetry Month - right?

Other Highlights: 

-Seeing the Swoon exhibit at The Brooklyn Museum
-Hanging out with April Ranger as much as possible and the fact that she wears gloves to our picnic. Also she lent me The Gold Cell by Sharon Olds which did huge things for me. 
-My brother’s birthday.
-The video for What the Hour Hand said to the Minute Hand released into the beautiful world!

MARCH 2014

I have a dilemma. I only have a couple of chapters left in Harry Potter: The Order of the Phoenix (the biggest and likely best book in the series) but I also have a long flight to Austin, Texas. I want to bring the book and finish it on the plane, but I know I’ll also want to read The Half Blood Prince right after that, and that week in Austin, and also on the plane ride home. The problem is that these are both heavy hardcover books and that I’ve definitely already overpacked my suitcase. I’m headed to the Women of the World Poetry Slam after all. My mom suggests that I cut out the pages I have left to read from book five and I shoot her the dirtiest look of all dirty looks as if I’m Christian and she’s suggested chopping the Bible. And so I board the plane, two massive books on my back, towards Austin, towards four days of poetry, competition, women, warm weather, and food trucks galore.

I room with Sara Brickman and spend most of the week practicing and hanging with her, Carrie Rudzinski, and Katie Wirsing. Katie visited me earlier in the month and I’m pretty much psyched to be maintaining a friendship with such a deeply kind and fun person. I end up doing really well in the competition, placing 9th out of 72 competitors with many new poems I was really proud of. I chose this photo of Katie and I backstage for the performance on final’s night to represent March because it reflects both the accomplishment and the friendship of the month. 

Other Highlights: 

-Best Bloody Mary I have ever had in Austin, enjoyed with Katie, Sara, and one of Sara’s friends who was dressed like a nun for a party and we convinced Katie she was a real (drinking gay) nun. 
-The one warm day in the middle of so much shitty cold where I broke out a skirt and fell in love with life again.
-Dancing FULL OUT with Katie after some bad margaritas at an outdoor honkey tonk bar in Austin.
-Lots of Bahn Mi in general.

Hi friends! I am so excited to announce that I will be teaching...

Hi friends! I am so excited to announce that I will be teaching another semester of one-on-one writing courses for the new year. Spots are limited, send me an e-mail if you want to sign up and reserve yours! Let’s make 2015 the best year for our writing yet. E-mail meganfalley@gmail.com for more details!

meganfalley:The women in your life do not want another basket of candlelight vanilla moon sugar...

meganfalley:

The women in your life do not want another basket of candlelight vanilla moon sugar body lotions and soaps for the ninth year in a row. She wants you not to be such an epic disappointment for once in your gift giving career. She wants a personalized copy of REDHEAD AND THE SLAUGHTER KING, which you can order in time for the holidays tonight and tonight only! Don’t be a sucky present-giver! Send $17 via PayPal to meganfalley@gmail.com before the night is over!

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