Category: blogging

SoCS: Ggggrrrrrrr

I don’t know if I can bear to make another phone call.

Well, not any phone call, but one to the NYS Health call center.

I have been trying to get an insurance situation resolved for the coming year and have had several loooooong phone calls with them – plus some online chat sessions.

And we still don’t have the situation resolved.

Unfortunately, I’ll have to wait for Monday because I think I need to talk to the IRS.

Doesn’t that sound like fun?

Everything has to be resolved by December 15, so let’s hope they all have their act in gear next week when I plunge back into the fracas.

I knew there was a reason I have been a long-time advocate for single-payer…
*****
Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is bear/bare. Join us! Find out how here:  https://lindaghill.com/2016/12/09/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-1016/

 

SoCS: the end of no-shave November

Every November here in the United States, there is an awareness campaign for prostate cancer. It is called No Shave November and people participate by not shaving for the month. There are also fundraisers organized around the event.

My husband B has participated in this initiative in honor of a co-worker who is a prostate cancer survivor.

It is now December fourth, but B still has his new beard! He has been getting lots of positive feedback on the look and has decided to keep it, at least for another month.

For him, it may be no-shave November and December – and maybe longer!
*****
Linda’s prompt for this Stream of Consciousness Saturdays was a word beginning with “sh”. Linda did everything in a timely manner; I am the one not posting until Sunday!  😉 Find out more here:  https://lindaghill.com/2016/12/02/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-316/

 

One-Liner Wednesday: listening

“There’s nothing more radical than listening.”
~~ Gloria Steinem

Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesday! Find out how here:  https://lindaghill.com/2016/11/30/one-liner-wednesday-words-to-live-by/

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SoCS: Steph’s blog

I knew Linda’s prompt this week was “pretty” and I wasn’t sure I would write a post, but this morning, this link: http://wordwomanpartialellipsisofthesun.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-corundum-conundrum-sapphires-rubies.html landed in my inbox.

Steph writes a blog that is a cross between science, often geology, and wordplay. She often has pretty photos of rocks, electron microscope patterns, geologic formations, and today, some very pretty gems.

Her blog is not on WordPress, so it is hard to re-blog other than by link, but I hope people will pop over to Steph’s blog and see some beautiful corundum in various colors.

Thank you, Steph, for sharing pretty pictures and words with us!
*****
Join us for Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday! Find out how here:  https://lindaghill.com/2016/11/25/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-nov-2616/

 

 

thanks

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. Despite the difficult year, I have much for which to be thankful.

One of them is you! I am thankful for my readers, whether you visit once or on a regular basis.

As regular visitors know, 2016 has been a difficult, complicated year for me and I have not been able to read and comment on other blogs on a regular basis, as good bloggers do.

Despite that, I have now surpassed 800 followers. Thanks! I so appreciate your support.

The follower number is not the whole story. I am also surprised at the number of in-person or Facebook friends who tell me that they read my blog, even though they never comment, follow, or like, which tend to be things that other bloggers are inclined to do. I so appreciate your support, especially during this busy time when personal correspondence is among the many things being set aside in deference to tasks that must be done in person. (A reminder to Facebook users, you can find my FB page here.)

I wish everyone a wonderful day, whether it is a holiday for you or not.

All days are better with gratitude and thanksgiving.

Sensing My Dismay at the Election Results, My Wife’s Dog Presses Against Me

Sending support to Bob down South at this difficult time. I am in awe of his ability to express the present situation poetically when everything is still so raw.

robert okaji's avatarO at the Edges

keep-off

Sensing My Dismay at the Election Results, My Wife’s Dog Presses Against Me

And when I roll over, my toe finds a hole in the not
inexpensive 400 thread count percale sheet and rips

down its length, and I wonder if I should extend this
metaphor to include walls and the unbearable weight

of societal collapse, or hatred with small hands and
minds or faces like pale disks of whitewashed emptiness

glaring at my friends, or, well, my wife and I, across
the restaurant’s laminate booths or the potholed street

by the bus stop. I recall the woman’s sneer and hushed
commentary that afternoon, and though I wanted to

correct her mistaken assumption (hey, lady, I’m not
Hispanic) and redirect her bigotry to the correct ethnicity,

I chose instead to smile and wave goodbye, to drive to
the polls and cast my ballot, one drop in that dark bucket

of…

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Poems – Fall 2016 BPP anthology

The fall anthology of the Binghamton Poetry Project is now available, so I can share the poems that were published in it here at Top of JC’s Mind. I shared “Thanks to the Department of Public Art” in a separate post. Below are three poems that I wrote from prompts in the summer and fall 2016 workshop sessions. Enjoy! (For some reason, when I copied these over, they arrived in a different font and spacing, so I decided to just roll with it!)

Sounds of Silence

          by Joanne Corey

Even if there were no
birds chirping in the trees,
leaves rustling in the breeze,
neighbor’s dog barking,
car alarm down the street erupting,
papers rustling,
child dribbling a basketball,
ice cream truck playing its jingle,
chipmunk retreating into the downspout,
bee buzzing among the clover,
footsteps on the sidewalk,
there would not be silence.

The voice in my mind is never
still.
*****
To Do

     by Joanne Corey

Go grocery shopping
Cook dinner
Clean up
Watch the news
Read
Sleep

Don’t forget to sing

Get up
Eat breakfast
Shower
Dress
Call Mom
Listen more than you talk

Don’t forget to sing

Travel
Visit a volcano
Step into the Pacific
Climb a mountain
Hear Big Ben chime
Walk on a glacier

Don’t forget to sing

Become a grandmother
Mourn your parents
Visit old friends
Pray
Write
Listen more than you talk

Don’t forget to sing
*****
Four River Haiku

 ~~ by Joanne Corey

Ice glazes river.
Groan, crack, break, flow downstream, jam.
Water floods the town.

Snow melt in spring sun.
River hurries over rocks.
Meander, oxbow.

Summer drought for months.
Fish find oxygen in pools.
We cast, seeking them.

Leaves, gold, orange, red,
Windswept, traverse the hillside.
River flows away.

 

Thanks to the Department of Public Art

When I revealed my secret poetry mission, I promised to share the text of my poem “Thanks to the Department of Public Art” after it was published in the fall anthology of the Binghamton Poetry Project.  The anthology is available tonight at our reading, so I am pleased to share the poem below. Here is a recording of my original reading at the 2016 Heart of the Arts Awards dinner.

Thanks to the Department of Public Art
~~ by Joanne Corey

 for Emily Jablon, Peg Johnston, and all whose hearts are in the arts

Stencils and murals
on descending levels
of the Water Street parking ramp
time-travel through that historic corner –
Link Blue Box flight simulators
evolve from pipe organs –
punching in on Bundy
time recording machines
in the days before IBM
and the move to Endicott –
on street level
“Welcome to the birthplace
of virtual reality”

We walk back
walk through
move forward
cover
recover
remember
build
rebuild
renovate
together

Walking along the Chenango
more murals –
diverse faces
in shades of gray
with colorful songbird
overlay –
hot air balloons
float over green hills –
BINGHAMTON
in bold letters
filled with landmarks
proclaiming their location

We draw
paint
photograph
digitize
share
write
read
view
review
create
recreate
together

Across Court Street
a riot of mosaics
flowing around curves
moving through the spectrum
patterns
shapes
florals
the clear message
“BE  INSPIRED,
BE BINGHAMTON”

Broken shards of glass and lives
re-order
re-assemble
tessellate
shine in the sun
glisten in the rain
reflect
renew
touch
together

We sing
play
listen
dance
act
react
interact
applaud
together

We live
breathe
eat
drink
laugh
sigh
smile
artfully
thoughtfully
cooperatively
with heart

 

 

 

 

One-Liner Wednesday: three little words

Love trumps hate.

Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out how here:  https://lindaghill.com/2016/11/16/one-liner-wednesday-words-and-grace/.

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Poem: Making Aunt Gert’s Indian Pudding

I have not (yet) fallen off the face of the earth.

Life is increasingly complicated, so I haven’t been able to post much lately.

It’s so complicated that I forgot to post for National Indian Pudding Day yesterday! Here I am belated sharing an Indian Pudding blog post from last year. Enjoy!

Joanne Corey's avatarJoanne Corey

I am very pleased to announce that I have another poem published today!  The blog of Silver Birch Press has published “Making Aunt Gert’s Indian Pudding” as part of their “My Sweet Word” series. You can find it here: https://silverbirchpress.wordpress.com/2015/10/12/making-aunt-gerts-indian-pudding-poem-by-joanne-corey-my-sweet-word-series/

Enjoy!

Update:  The recipe is now available here:  https://topofjcsmind.wordpress.com/2015/10/13/indian-pudding-recipe/

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