Meg Johnson

Forthcoming Poems, Sassy Girls

2012-02-19T19:42:00.000-08:00

I found out tonight I had poems accepted by Slurve Magazine.

Slurve published a poem I love by Stacia M. Fleegal. Check it out here.

New Poems Published

2012-01-29T19:45:00.000-08:00

I have four new poems in the February issue of SOFTBLOW. You can check them out here.

Malone University Reading and Workshop

2012-01-21T13:30:00.000-08:00

Forthcoming Poems (SOFTBLOW) & Winter Break!

2011-12-14T22:06:00.000-08:00

I found out tonight that I had four new poems accepted by the online journal SOFTBLOW. They are scheduled for February.

It's winter break! Feelin' good.

4 New Poems Out & That Time of the Year

2011-11-28T21:07:00.000-08:00

I have four new poems in the new issue of The Jet Fuel Review.

Happy beginning of the holiday season!

Forthcoming Poems (The Jet Fuel Review)

2011-11-03T08:43:00.000-07:00

I found out this morning that I had four new poems accepted by The Jet Fuel Review.

The upcoming issue is scheduled to be released on November 29.

Vagabondage Press Interview

2011-10-23T08:27:00.000-07:00

I was interviewed by The Battered Suitcase and Vagabondage Press and the interview came out today. (The interview took place in December 2010.) You can read it here.

Rubbertop Review Submissions

2011-10-22T17:27:00.000-07:00

Rubbertop Review is open for submissions of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction.

Guidelines available here.

Update (01/21/12):
The next issue of Rubbertop Review that will feature interviews with songwriter Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys and Iowa Prize winner Josh Rolnick is going to have an "Ohio Connections" contributors theme. If you have an Ohio connection of some kind or know a writer with an Ohio connection of some kind the editors want to see your work. No need for you to live in Ohio or for the work to be about Ohio. You just need to have an Ohio connection (you decide what that is). February 1 deadline fast approaching! Happy submissions!

Ingenuity Fest Photos

2011-09-21T01:07:00.000-07:00

Ingenuity Fest

2011-09-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

I'll be reading with Nick Sturm, Mike Krutel, and Sam Snodgrass at Ingenuity Fest in Cleveland on Sunday, September 18th.

The reading is at 1 pm. We'll be reading in the Wandering Cave space. More information is available here and here.

Akron!

2011-08-14T22:57:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Akron this weekend and I'm still unpacking at my new place.

In July, I was asked to read at Malone University with Michael Goroff and Eliese Goldbach in January. I'll post more on that later.

Feels like fall.

Update (08/21/11):

Everyone has been incredibly welcoming so far.

I went to the Akron Art Museum yesterday. I really liked it and it's free(!) for University of Akron students.

Looks like I'll be reading in Cleveland in September at Ingenuity Fest.

New Poem Out (& Happy 4th!)

2011-07-04T09:49:00.000-07:00

I have a new poem in Clutching at Straws.

Happy 4th everyone!

A Poetry Acceptance and an Art Show

2011-06-19T12:39:00.000-07:00

I found out yesterday that a new poem of mine is forthcoming in the online journal Clutching at Straws. I'll post a link to it when it comes out.

On Friday I went to an art show at cometogetherstudios in Bloomington, Illinois. I got to see some great pieces and explore their amazing new space.

Kanopy Dance

2011-05-22T17:22:00.000-07:00

This afternoon was the Kanopy School for Contemporary Dance and Choreography end of the year concert at Overture Center for the Arts. I was very proud of my students.

I’m wrapping up six years with Kanopy Dance and I want to say thank you to everyone involved with the company and the school, especially Lisa Thurrell and Robert Cleary.

Here are some photos from today.

May 14th & 15th, 2011

2011-05-15T17:30:00.000-07:00

May 12th & 13th, 2011

2011-05-13T11:48:00.000-07:00

Review Release and Other Spring Things

2011-04-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

I edited the 2011 Edgewood Review which just came out today. The journal features poetry, fiction, and photography by Edgewood College students and alumni. Copies are currently available at Avol's Books, Michelangelo's Coffee House, Madison Public Library (Central Library), and in most buildings on the Edgewood campus.

Here are some photos...

I found out that I'll be receiving a Bauer Scholarship at Akron next year. Very excited!

Is it spring? I'm not sure. There's snow on the ground in Madison...

Next Year

2011-04-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

I was recently admitted into some grad school programs for poetry, and today I accepted at the University of Akron and the NEOMFA Program (Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing).

I'll be starting in the fall and will be fully funded. I'll have an assistantship that waives tuition and provides a small stipend that will continue through my time there.

Shortly after accepting, I was offered a position to be a poetry editor next year for Rubbertop Review which I accepted.

I'm very excited!

3 New Poems Out...and stuff...

2011-04-06T07:39:00.000-07:00

I have three new poems in Camroc Press Review.

I've had a busy week so far and I can't believe it's only Wednesday. I need to stay focused. I currently feel like this.

New Poem, New Season (Almost)

2011-03-06T11:49:00.000-08:00

I have a new poem in the online journal Pure Francis. It just came out today. You can check out Pure Francis here.

I have three new poems coming out in another online journal one month from now. I'll post the link when those poems come out.

I'm ready for spring break. One week to go...

Peaches...

2011-02-21T17:43:00.000-08:00

I'm looking forward to reading at Tongue and Ink this weekend. It will be nice to get out of town.

Carrie Lorig wrote a two part article for Dane 101 about the various reading series in Madison, including Back Porch Reading. You can read it here.

I really like the Takenobu version of the song "Shady Grove." I like most of his songs so far.

Madison, Wisconsin Protest Photos

2011-02-18T19:22:00.000-08:00

This evening I heard the Rev. Jesse Jackson speak on the square. Here are some photos I took earlier this evening...

Mad City Poets at Tongue and Ink

2011-02-12T15:00:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be reading in the Mad City Poets reading at Illinois Wesleyan University's Tongue and Ink Conference on Saturday, February 26th. You can read more about the conference here.

Poetry and Ponytails

2011-01-30T21:19:00.000-08:00

On Friday I found out I had a new poem accepted for publication by the online journal Pure Francis.

I have a reading coming up in late February in Illinois and I have some other projects going on as well. I'll try to blog more soon.

Today I watched Bob Fosse's "The Rich Man's Frug" from the film version of the musical Sweet Charity. I've been watching this piece for years and I never get tired of it. I still think the girl with the long, dark ponytail is one of the coolest people ever.

I finally created an online photo album with a few pictures which you can see here. I'll try to keep adding photos to it.

My Evaluation of "2nd Skin" for the Madison Arts Commission

2011-01-04T08:54:00.000-08:00

In December, I was asked to evaluate 2nd Skin, a dance concert, for the Madison Arts Commission. I thought I would share part of my evaluation here...

I recently attended 2^nd Skin, a dance concert performed by Ella Rosewood Dance. I saw the Saturday show on December 11^th which was performed at Music Hall for a small but attentive audience. I hope the audience for this young company continues to grow.

The concert consisted of six solos performed by Ella Rosewood. Each piece was created by a different choreographer. Rosewood commissioned five choreographers to create solos for her and choreographed one of the pieces herself.

I thought it was a wise move to open with the work Ms. Rosewood created, allowing the veteran choreographers’ work to be the focus of the concert. Rosewood’s piece, Shadows of Incandescence, required athleticism and technique yet it never resorted to predictable dance class choreography. The dancer, dressed in a fitted, legless, flesh colored costume, threw her body across the stage and to the floor, finding quirky gestures along the way. Turns and balances, which happened around a light fixture prop center stage, were all given new twists.

I enjoyed getting to see choreography by Florida State professor Tim Glenn and New York based Beth Soll as I had not yet had the chance to see their choreography before.

In Beth Soll’s Knowing/Not Knowing, I was taken with a reoccurring movement that expressed both power and vulnerability. Standing in profile to the audience, Rosewood stood on her downstage leg with her upstage leg in a parallel coupe. With her arms outstretched to her sides, she turned her head slowly from looking straight forward to looking out at the audience.

In Tim Glenn’s Silk by Night, it was memorable when, leaning back in the downstage right corner of the stage, Rosewood smoothly freed one of her legs from a string of white fabric. There was a projection screen used for this piece and I enjoyed how more than one of the pieces in this concert incorporated technology.

In Luc Vanier’s Farewell Beautiful World, Rosewood danced with a computer screen and comically stated “I’m separating myself . . . from myself.”

Throughout the various pieces, I noticed how the lighting enhanced the overall movement. However, there were many times when I would have liked to see more light on Rosewood’s face so that I didn’t lose her facial expressions.

Li Chiao-Ping’s Rust/Rise/Reset was another great vehicle for Rosewood’s athleticism. The majority of the movement of the piece takes place on a mattress-like surface, yet the movement is incredibly intense.

I thought Janet Lilly’s Regret was a great piece to close the show with. In an oversized white dress resembling a night gown, Rosewood seemed to lovingly attack Lilly’s movement and it felt as if she was referencing the pieces she had previously performed that evening. While the piece was titled Regret it ended the concert on a hopeful note.

It can be hard to perform a one-person show without it coming off as self indulgent, but this concert never felt that way to me. The educational outreach component of this project helped with this. Rosewood worked with seven schools in Dane county through interactive performance workshops. I hope that Ella Rosewood Dance continues its outreach work. I can imagine Rosewood doing terrific work with young students.

My guess is that Rosewood is hungry to have more dancers in her new company. Every piece in 2^nd Skin was well crafted and performed. A problem with a concert of this type (solo show) is that it lacks the element of surprise. Each piece offered exciting moments, but having six solos in a row made the concert feel somewhat formulaic. However, this kind of concert requires extreme stamina and to see a dancer fulfill this is an accomplishment in itself.

Two Poems and a Bustle

2010-12-05T15:01:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week, two poems I wrote were published in an issue of The Battered Suitcase. I wrote these two particular poems about six months ago, though it feels like a lot more time has passed than six months since I wrote them.

This week I also had a performance in Milwaukee. Here are some pictures of me in the fairy queen costume.

Chicago

2010-11-14T18:31:00.000-08:00

Just got back from an amazing weekend in Chicago.

It's November...

2010-11-04T17:51:00.000-07:00

I found out today I have three new poems forthcoming in Camroc Press Review.

Earlier this week, I found out I'm getting a scholarship that I previously didn't know existed.

I'm of course excited about all of the above.

I'm still kind of bummed out about the Wisconsin election results, but I'm proud of who I voted for.

Halloween (Saturday, October 30th, 2010)

2010-11-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

Odds and Ends

2010-10-24T14:16:00.000-07:00

Kanopy Dance Company will be performing in Milwaukee on December 2nd. I will try to post more details about the performance soon. You can watch a video with clips of recent KDC shows I've performed in here.

I'm happy that people had fun at Back Porch Reading. A recent article about Back Porch Reading can be read here.

Back Porch Reading Photos

2010-10-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from Back Porch Reading. Thanks to the readers and everyone who attended. Thanks to Mike Theune for taking these pictures.

Christine Holm

Meg Johnson, Andy Gricevich, and Katrina Wollet enjoying Christine Holm's reading

Laura and Elizabeth and wine

Meg Johnson

Amanda Viviani and Ryan Lenz

Zozie Beatrice

Amanda Viviani

Zozie Beatrice

Charlie Campbell

Charlie Campbell reading


Michael Stock and Adam Fell

Charlie Campbell

Charlie and Sterling

My Wednesday

2010-09-29T21:52:00.000-07:00

I received my contributor's copy of Left Behind: A Journal of Shock Literature today. It is the magazine's fourth issue. It looks like it will be fun to read.

As usual, I taught the Wednesday level four choreography/ensemble class at the Kanopy School for Contemporary Dance and Choreography. I always look forward to teaching this class. The dancers in the class are as young as ten years old, but they produce a lot of dynamic work and give each other helpful feedback during discussions.

I waited in line for the Obama rally yesterday, but the viewing area reached full capacity before I could get in. I ended up hanging out with Jake Penner and we worked on some things for Back Porch Reading...

Approaching October

2010-09-26T13:29:00.000-07:00

I found out on Friday that the editors of Blood Lotus are nominating my poem "Free Samples" for Best of the Net.

The poem was published in issue 16. You can check out Blood Lotus here.

The poetry editors of Blood Lotus are Stacia M. Fleegal and Teneice Durrant Delgado.

Ashly Cochran read "Free Samples" in Blood Lotus this summer and shortly after, shared my poem on her blog, so you can also read the poem here.

Back Porch Reading is coming up on October 16th. You can currently find out more information about Back Porch Reading here and here and here.

Here are some links to pieces by some of the readers:
My Odysseus by Zozie Beatrice
Aesop, Please by Christine Holm
Timber! by Meg Johnson
Girls by Amanda Viviani

I'll be performing (dancing) in Milwaukee in December and will be starting rehearsals soon.

My brother Alec has been sending me a lot of great music lately. There is a cover of a Dar Williams song that he recently sent me that I love. Listen to it here.

Back Porch Reading

2010-09-15T12:21:00.000-07:00

Back Porch Reading: A Poetry and Fiction Reading and Party


Zozie Beatrice, Charlie Campbell, Christine Holm, Meg Johnson, Jake Penner, Amanda Viviani

"Don't get freaked out...but I drew you..."

2010-08-28T16:25:00.000-07:00

Meg Johnson by Elizabeth Cavanaugh


Meg Johnson by Sean Woodbury

Ames in August

2010-08-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Ames, Iowa. I was there for a few days visiting my parents. I hadn't been back since Christmas and had a great time. I'm happy that Ames is starting to get back to normal after all the flooding. I'm hoping I'll get the chance to see my brother Alec sometime this fall. He loves Madison, but I haven't been to Iowa City in ages so maybe I'll hang out there some weekend. Here are a few pictures of me on my parents' back porch on August 19th.

P is for...

2010-08-15T18:23:00.000-07:00

My poem "Timber!" is in the August issue of Word Riot which just came out today.

Also, this afternoon my housemate Stacy and I were given a free piano. We didn't even have to move it ourselves. It fits quite well in our front living room. I haven't played the piano since I was a kid and Stacy never took piano lessons so mostly we've just been standing around it. But still. Who doesn't want a piano?

A Work in Progress (Some Choreography)

2010-08-12T21:32:00.000-07:00

This is a video of some of the students at the dance intensive I've been teaching at this summer. I started working on this new piece of modern choreography recently and I've been setting it on the students in my rep class. The class was broken up into four groups/casts today and this is group one rehearsing what I've choreographed so far. I filmed group one twice today from two different angles. I think the first run is better visually (because of the corner I'm filming from), but the audio is messed up. The second time on this video the audio is much clearer, but I like the angle of the first run a bit more.

Summer and the One Note Symphony (My First Blog Post)

2010-07-25T15:28:00.000-07:00

I found out today I had two new poems accepted by The Battered Suitcase. I’m very excited for those poems to be forthcoming.

I have new poems out. One poem came out in June in the online journal Blood Lotus. Three poems came out in the online journal WTF PWM earlier this month.

As usual, I’ve been teaching dance, and I feel lucky to be working with so many talented dancers this summer, especially in my repertory class.

On July 9th, I was one of the readers in the Arena Wisconsin Poetry Festival. The reading was held in the evening in a gorgeous barn and featured such a wide variety of poets that I think there were surprises for everyone who attended. I'm glad I got to be a part of it.

Edgewood just did an article/profile on me- artsandsciences.edgewood.edu -if you want to check it out. I feel grateful to have studied writing with Matthew Guenette for two semesters before transferring to Edgewood.

In June, I visited my friend Ria Misra in DC. One of the days I was there we went to some of the Smithsonian Museums. At the Hirshhorn, I really enjoyed the Yves Klein exhibition. The space was filled with paintings and sculptures by the artist. Videos of Klein and his “living brushes” performance art events were projected on a blank wall. The videos were almost life size which made me better understand the impact of the work.

What was bizarre to me was not Klein’s work, but the fact that besides Ria and I, there were only two museum goers at the Klein exhibition the whole time we were there. While I’m not sure exactly how long we were there, we certainly savored the exhibition. The other two patrons were there for only a couple of minutes. They were quiet and respectful, but zoomed right through it. With the exception of a couple of security guards, Ria and I had the exhibition all to ourselves for longer than I think anyone would ever have guessed was possible.

In sharp contrast to this, at the National Museum of Natural History’s National Gem and Mineral Collection, crowds of people swarmed around the displays which made the pace to view the minerals and especially the gems uncomfortably slow. I wasn’t sure at first how to feel when a thick crowd was circled around the Hope Diamond. It seemed so anticlimactic to me and yet tourists brought their sweaty faces near the glass case to take picture after picture. While there were some stunning pieces there, I was far more taken with Klein’s work at the Hirshhorn. Of course, if someone were to present me with the Hope Diamond I would accept it. Curse and all.