megan falley

The Balance

after Rachel McKibbens

There were days when it looked like love,
especially if you turned down the volume.
But even if you didn’t.

Bus rides asleep on each other’s
shoulders, splitting a pair of earbuds
plugged into a song as if sharing
a secret.

Afternoons where we stayed in
our pajamas and played video games
and he bought us twin bodega sandwiches
and remembered mine
without the meat.

And while I look back on these memories
with equal, if not more repulsion,
I know that I wasn’t an idiot 
to stay. That my heart invented
its own verb which meant To Love 
The Dog Who Licks The Scar It Gave You.

On a dirty bar couch on Valentine’s Day
he said I would fight with you every morning
if it meant I could kiss you every night and at the time
it didn’t sound like The Codependent National Anthem,
or a vending machine where you put in fury
and get out passion

or even like the things I read now
in pamphlets—the ones I trust upon other women
like my own righteous gospel—

it sounded like the sweetest thing
he’d ever said to me. A poem
I could fold real small and carry
around in my locket, not noticing, for months
how it also kind of
choked.

-Megan Falley

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Help Megan get this poem published in a new book by Write Bloody Press by voting for it HERE. Your support means the moon. 

Friends & Followers,

I want to thank you.

I have been living as a full-time writer since September and it has been the most beautiful dream. Without you— you who bought books, you who came to shows, who flew me out to your college, who sent sweet tumblr messages, who reblogged, who told a friend about my work, who covered “Fat Girl” at your own open mic— I would not be here today. I am grateful for every one of you, every day. You did more than save my life. You made it.

I am writing because today I need your help. In the past year I have written a second collection of poetry that I am passionate about getting out into the world, and especially into the hands of young people. The company I want to publish the book with (Write Bloody)  requires that the authors post a video and procure a large amount of “likes” on YouTube for it. The few seconds it takes to follow this link and click “LIKE” could help me publish a second book, which could help keep me making art and not bagging groceries for maybe another blessed year or two.

Please like the video. Please reblog it. Please share it with your friends and family and any abuse survivors you think would benefit from hearing it. Please also watch the other contestant’s videos and vote for who you’d like to see published.

I am always in your corner, always rooting for you.

One more time, here is my new poem & video, “The Balance.”

NEWS

I am GIDDY to announce that I have been asked to appear on Season 3 of Lexus’ Verses & Flow ! In the next coming weeks I’ll be flying out to Los Angeles to film in front of a live audience for a show that will be available in over 38 million homes. I just keep casting my big butterfly net and catching all these blessings. Thank you for believing in me and my work. ♥