Meryl Branch-McTiernan
Meryl Branch-McTiernan has published creative nonfiction in Chaleur Magazine and Ritualwell. Two of her monologues were published in the 2015 collection Men’s Comedic Monologues That Are Actually Funny. She’s blogged for HuffPo Women and is a professional ghostwriter of nonfiction books. Currently she’s pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at Stony Brook University. A native New Yorker, she received a BS in Television, Radio, and Film from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
An Ecstasy of Parting
By Meryl Branch-McTiernan“An Ecstasy of Parting,” by Meryl Branch-McTiernan draws its title from an Emily Dickinson poem, and like the poem tackles a dark subject at its heart. When we meet the main character, he’s waking up to the aftermath of an alcohol-fueled argument with his wife. We watch as he tries to redeem himself and regain control of the life he’s made for himself through a nostalgia-driven trip to the beach with his young daughter. Branch-McTiernan smoothly alternates the tone of the story between moments of existential dread, tenderness, and humor.
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