“When they built you, they broke the mold” – Bruce Springsteen
Goodbye, my June.
You were my very best friend and I am heart broken.
May 2, 1999 – Oct. 12, 2016
Archive | October, 2016
Gratitude
8 Oct
Last night I had the honor – and it was was truly that – of being a part of PinkSpeak – a fundraiser held by Mike Geffner of Inspired Word in which all proceeds goes to Pink Daisy, a site dedicated to helping young women with cancer cope with the daily obstacles of life.
It was an amazing night full of incredibly talented people and to have the opportunity to not only hear their stories but to also share mine – to stitches our stories together, to bouy each other up mattered.
When Better Luck Next Year first came out, I had a reading in Pittsburgh for the launch. During the end, I felt that familiar frog in my throat and I got upset. Not like sobbing or anything but you know, talking got a little hard.
I was upset with myself for doing that. I though it was “unprofessional.”
So this time, I swore I wasn’t going to. I was going to have some level of detachment from this material. I was going to be professional. I was an artist, dammit. Act like it.
Anyone who knows me knows that basically you just have to fingernail scratch the surface of me before you hit all the FEELS. It’s just how I’m built. I used to feel bad about it like I couldn’t hold my shit together but there is power in being this emotional. For one, it makes me incredibly empathetic. I would say empathetic to a fault but I don’t believe you can be. It makes you see the world differently.
So when I got nearly to the end of the reading last night and then felt that familiar catch in my throat and that pinprick at my eyes, I was disappointed with myself. I had come so close and still didn’t pull it off.
And then I realized something.
I was getting upset because I was sad or scared or angry.
I wasn’t upset because of cancer.
I was upset because I was overcome with GRATITUDE.
Gratitude that I was able to stand on that stage with so many talented artists and knit my story into theirs, creating a web by which we will all carry each other through this fire.
Gratitude that I’m here now, still standing, with my unflappable love of this life and this universe and all of us.
Gratitude to my old friends and new friends who joined me that night, who were there watching me be as raw as I could be and saying, “It’s all good, girl.”
Gratitude to everyone in the audience and everyone else who couldn’t come but donated so much that Mike posted this this morning:
GRATITUDE.
So thank you all, from the bottom of deeply overwhelmed, emotional, gushing heart.
Peace love and Starbursts,
Ally
Books, readings, poetry, oh my
3 OctOof.
How the hell is it already October?
It’s this election, guys. It’s killing me slowly.
Speaking of I just spent a week in DC which deserves its own post but I have to say it was both amazing and surreal and sad to be there now. At one point I was standing in the Smithsonian Museum of American History, in the Presidential room, looking at that history, for all its good and bad, and the legacy of men who have lead this country and was struck stone cold sober with the notion that that bloviating noxious man child is a possibility.
That said, this happened after I left. Snicker. Snicker.
But before DC, I have a few updates to share.
First and foremost I’m doing a reading on Friday at the Parkside Lounge for PinkSpeak.
More information can be found here.
Featured Artists:
Storyteller/Poet Phillip Giambri aka The Ancient Mariner
Singer/Songwriter Samantha Leon
Poet Keisha-Gaye Anderson
Singer/Songwriter Taylor Tucker
Poet Wynne Henry
Spoken Word Artist/Poet Scott Raven
Poet Dara Kalima
Singer/Songwriter Matt Wiffen & His Band
Poet Ally Malinenko
Singer/Songwriter Natatia Allison
Poet John Grochalski
Hosted by Jenny Saldaña.
It’s gonna be a good night, with a good cause so come join us for some beers, some poems, some songs as we hoist a pint and offer a hearty Fuck You to cancer.
If you’re in town and can come, awesome. If not you can still donate to a really great cause that helps young women with cancer. Cause we need all the help we can get.
I’m also really excited to say that my new chapbook, I’ll Be So Still You Won’t Even Notice Me is available now via Epic Rites press. It’s part of Epic Rite’s Punk Chapbook series where in you can get 12 books for $40 and that’s a pretty sweet deal. The package includes yours truly hooked up with some of her favorites, including William Taylor Jr, James Duncan and Janne Karlsson as well as a whole host of awesome writers.
(I’m scheduled to do another reading in November at Parkside at which I will have copies available too. More on that later.)
Also I’m excited to be included in Janne Karlsson’s anthology the Bones of Nirvana. Janne did the fantastic artwork for all the punk chapbooks from Epic Rites. He’s super talented and for Bones of Nirvana, he’s illustrated every poem in the collection. Needless to say I was floored when I saw mine. Now I know how comic book writers feel. Art making words better. I’ll share when that’s available too.
And finally I just want to say thank you to Brooklyn Poets who posted not only a poem with audio track (in other news I hate my voice) but also an interview. I was honored to be their poet of the week!
DC Trip post coming soon…….
ETA: I completely forgot to thank Red Fez and Drunk Monkeys for their Best of the Net nominations for my poems “Better Luck Next Year” and “While David Bowie was Dying”
Peace, love and starbursts,
Ally
