Megan Falley's Blog, page 38

POETRY WRITING PROMPT #24 of 30

I think the mark of a good love poem is how many readers/listeners read/hear it and wish the poem was written about them. And when McPherson said the line in his poem at Urbana Poetry Slam the other night - “You are shaped like an hourglass filled with tiny Beyoncés” - I think everyone wished that was written for them. Even the dudes.

What I love so much about that line (besides the visceral image that my brain immediately saw) is that “you are shaped like an hourglass” is such a cliche love poem line, which McPherson turned on its head with such a new, fresh idea.

Often when I hear love poems with those cliche hallmark words - I cringe. “Your eyes are two oceans” or “Your freckles are constellations” or “I see you tattooed on the back of my eyelids.” EW. EW. EW. 

I read that the songwriter for Beyonce’s “Rocket” was challenged by Beyonce herself to write a song about what he wished she would say to him. To quote, “What’s the first thing I’d want Beyoncé to say to me, as a man? What have I not heard her say?…That’s where the song came from. And essentially it’s what all of us would want Beyoncé to say to us—no disrespect, obviously, to Jay.”

So today, I want you to write a love poem. And make it a love poem you wish someone would write to you. And if you feel a cliche coming on, like “your freckles are constellations” flip it on its head. Say “your freckles are constellations that spell out ‘BAD BITCH.’

Go shine on, you Beyonce-Filled hourglass, you.

terraforminggnomes:If you like poetry you should definitely check out Megan Falley.so sweet!

terraforminggnomes:

If you like poetry you should definitely check out Megan Falley.

so sweet!

ALIBI

“Danish Man Aquitted of Sexual Assaults Because He was Asleep, Suffers from ‘Sexsomnia.’” –NY Daily News

Why isn’t there a disease 
where you do something useful
in your sleep—maybe file my taxes? 
Caulk the bathtub? Scoop the kitty litter?
I need a pedicure. Need to fix this 
unibrow. Finish that manuscript.
Can’t you help with that?

I’ve suddenly contracted a sleep-punching disease.
I’m going to cuddle up next to everyone
who believes your shit.
In my disease I tie balloon animals
out of scrotums.

It’s okay. I’m sleeping.
I don’t want to be held 
accountable either.

It’s funny—your disease manifested itself
at thirty-one years old when you had a pair 
of teenage girls in your home. 
Curious it didn’t haunt you
on your camping trip 
with Grandpa.

If I had an affliction where I unconsciously shoved
a pistol into the people I loved, 
I’d tell them:

look, I do this thing
in the night—it might kill you,
but it isn’t me.

Except I’d know 
it was me.

I’d sleep in a crypt.
I’d cut off
my own hands.

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Megan Falley, from her upcoming book Redhead and the Slaughter King. 

Poetry Writing Prompt, #20 of 30!

I want to keep pushing the magical realism prompts this week, with a deep purple sadness that the master of magical realism won’t be writing more books, and also a joy of what Gabriel García Márquez left behind for us to delight in.

So, consider some of the fairytale conceits that either tickle or boggle you: a witch who eats children, a boy who never grows up, a girl the size of a thumb. Write down at least five.

Now, slightly adjust the fairytale to fit your own life. Does depression feel like you are the size of a thumb — how do you move about your day when you are that small? Is there someone in your life who is mean to waitstaff - who feasts on ‘lesser’ people - would you say they eat children? Are you the boy who won’t grow up - what happens as those around you get old and have families?

What makes magical realism exciting (to me) is that it isn’t complete magic or ridiculousness or nonsense, there is enough grounding in the real world to make the magic part feel real too.

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For more free poetry writing prompts by Megan Falley, be sure to "like" her artist page.

the number one homie.

the number one homie.

Some of my favorite stills from “What the Hour Hand Said...

Some of my favorite stills from “What the Hour Hand Said to the Minute Hand: A Poem in Film.”

"What the Hour Hand Said to the Minute Hand", a poem by Megan...

"What the Hour Hand Said to the Minute Hand", a poem by Megan Falley, has been turned into a stunning & evocative short film guaranteed to give you the feels.

Megan Falley’s poem Tutor was previously published in the...

Megan Falley’s poem Tutor was previously published in the Rattling Wall and is forthcoming in her second collection of poetry, Redhead and the Slaughter King, slated for publication with Write Bloody Press in the Fall of 2014. 

An Interview With Megan Falley

An Interview With Megan Falley:

"My hope is that when I tell my story, when I achieve things — it encourages other women to speak out, to stay, to push against the forces that oppress them until they score and shine and winwinwin."

- Megan Falley

Feministing: Featuring Megan Falley

Feministing: Featuring Megan Falley:

So happy that my poem “The Worst Thing I Ever Taught My Girl (from my mother’s perspective” written after the incredible Jeanann Verlee, was featured at FEMINISTING today! To read the rest of the book that the poem is published in, check this out.