I first met Megan Rickman at the lovely Virginia wedding of her brother and my friend, Zach. Immediately, we recognized we were kindred spirits as we rode through Richmond, Virginia chillin with the windows down, bonding while listening to Anthony Hamilton and Mos Def. Being someone who generally knows a lot of people but doesn’t necessarily “CLICK” with them, I knew right away that Megan would bring something more to my life. She radiated an energy that I felt as I sat next to her.
Megan and I only hung out that one day and didn’t see each other for months to follow, but we remained in communication and have since grown a lovely friendship out of mutual respect and support in each others various projects of passion. She is the reason I became involved in the poetry scene here in New York City. Whenever she is in town, you can’t stop me from dropping all my plans to attend her battles, which she sometimes wins!
I remember when I first saw Megan on stage. She had come to New York with the Richmond Slam team for a competition last summer. There is seeing live music and then there is seeing live poetry. The layers of emotions that one feels over the course of a slam competition is overwhelming. I quite literally feel the need to ball my eyes out at times and then busted out in belly laughs seconds later. It’s a roller coaster of emotions for sure: Humor, sadness, anger, hate.
Since her jump onto the Richmond Slam Scene in January 2007, she has traveled with Slam Richmond to Nationals twice, taking 21st in 2008, 3rd in 2009 at Southern Fried. She recently placed sixth at the Women of the World Poetry Slam. In 2010, she was nominated by her peers for two National Underground Spoken Word and Poetry Awards (NUSPAS) for Best female perfromer and best female writer.
She continues her work with bringing youth to spoken word, through her workshops across the state in the high schools and co-coaching the first youth team from Richmond, Virginia to compete in Brave New Voices, Slam Dominion.
The latest entry in a long line of passionate poetry from Megan Rickman is out: My Dear Goddess! A gorgeous ode to woman everywhere telling us that we are beautiful and we don’t have to shine alone 🙂 She takes all the liberties she can in her poetry and her delivery on paper is only magnified once she hits the stage. I hope you enjoy My Dearest Goddess as much as I do! I can’t wait to see it performed!
My Dearest Goddess by Megan Rickman
I bet there are boys still riding the curve of your collar bone
Breasts,
tattooed against memory.
Somewhere tonight,
there are boys,
painting your face against their palms.
When did you realize you were beautiful.
Was your mothers womb lined with mirrors?
Or as I suspect,
did it take a little longer.
How many years did you practice peeling back skin?
Your beautiful skin.
built of defiance and love,
swirling ash,
and lace,
You eruption of elegance,
how many scars will we have to explain,
When we dance naked with wildflowers and God.
I will cradle your cheeks of upturned prayers.
Dig questioning fingers,
into dimples of wishing well,
Massage secrets,
from the glint of your eye.
Hold your rocking body,
beat my heart,
to the rhythm of confessions,
and kiss your hands,
beneath a jealous sky.
Two stars.
A brilliant constellation,
Sister find solace.
You don’t have to shine alone.
Anymore.
** Right now the voting is still taking place for the NUSPAS and it would be cool if people went and voted if you liked what you read 🙂
Another great place to discover new poems is the new spoken word poetry album “Poetic License: 100 Poems/100 Performers” featuring Jason Alexander, Patti LuPone, Michael York, Kate Mulgrew, Paul Provenza and 95 other top performers reading a poem of their choosing. If you know anyone who claims that they don’t like poetry, you should get them this album so they can hear the magic that you already see on the page.
For more info, to read the amazing reviews, or to purchase the album, visit GPRRecords.com.
“Poetic License” is available for purchase and preview on iTunes. Here’s a link to Part 1 of the album: http://bit.ly/poeticlicense_itunes
More Links:
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/gprrecords
Facebook: http://bit.ly/PoeticLicenseFanPage
Web Site: http://bit.ly/gprrecords
Thank you Minie. I love Patty Lupone! I will be sure to check this out! Keep your eyes peeled for more of Megan’s work to grace my blog. She is a dear spirit and friend!