Category: musings

Poem on The Purposeful Mayonnaise

My poem “Grandpa’s pipe smoke lingers on the stoop” has just been published in Issue 3.2 of The Purposeful Mayonnaise, a Canadian-based bimonthly literary and art journal-platform. The theme for this issue is “Home.” It’s available for free download at the link above. Make sure to view all the amazing art and writing, including an interview!

My poem is part of my currently unpublished full-length collection that centers around the North Adams area and my family’s experiences there. I wrote it during the 2019 Boiler House Poets Collective residency at The Studios at MASS MoCA.

Its original title was “122 State Street.” For those of you who know North Adams and who would like to be oriented physically, the location is right before heading over Hadley Overpass toward Main Street.

This poem is about my maternal grandparents’ home when I was in the lower grades of primary school, over fifty years ago now. Remember that your comments are always welcome here at Top of JC’s Mind.

Maui wildfire

Like many people in the United States and around the world, I have been watching the devastating news of the wildfires in Hawai’i, especially on Maui, with sorrow and horror. The confirmed death toll is currently 93 but hundreds of people are still missing, so that total is expected to rise. Eighty per cent of the buildings in Lahaina have been destroyed, along with the livelihoods of most of the residents.

If you are able to contribute to relief efforts, please consider contributing to the Maui Strong Fund, under the auspices of the Hawai’i Community Foundation, which is able to put donations to use immediately on the ground.

One of the difficult things about this tragedy is knowing that it was made worse by human intervention. Climate change is implicated both in the drought conditions in Hawai’i and the strong hurricane, that, while well south of landfall, combined with a high pressure area to send winds up to 80 mph (128 kph) onto the islands that quickly spread the wildfires, knocking out communication infrastructure and trapping many people.

The colonization of the Islands also played a role in the fires, as the landscape and plants have been altered from the species that evolved on Pacific islands. My daughter T, who holds a master’s degree in conservation biology of plants, told me that African grasses that were brought to Hawai’i evolved with fire as part of their lifecycle, burning quickly but than sprouting again soon after. These grasses were implicated in the dangerous speed with which the wildfires spread.

My family has several connections to Hawai’i. B and I visited Kauai for our tenth wedding anniversary and were drawn to the beauty of Hawai’i and the welcoming nature of the people. Our daughter E lived in Honolulu for several years, while studying at the University of Hawai’i – Manoa. She met her spouse L there and they married at their local parish.

Daughter T, while an undergrad at Cornell, spent a Sustainability semester in Hawai’i. They were in residence most of the time on the island of Hawai’i. (There were significant wildfires there as well, but the destruction was not as widespread because of the areas affected.) They also participated in conservation projects on other islands, including Maui. In 2014, B and I went to Hawai’i with T, three years after her semester there. You can read a series of posts about that visit starting here. That visit also led to this poem.

Hawai’i is one of the most remote places on earth, being far away from any of the large continents. Its isolation, though, does not exempt it from the increasing tide of disasters turbocharged by the climate crisis. These tragic wildfires are another reminder that we all need to do what we can to transition to lives that don’t pollute our atmosphere with even more carbon.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is convening a Climate Ambition Summit next month to help speed these efforts. There will be a large March to End Fossil Fuels in New York City on September 17. We need world governments to act NOW. It’s too late for all those lost on Maui and other climate-change influenced disasters around the world. We need to save as many people and other beings as we can in the future.

SoCS: mailing Hearts

It never occurred to me that part of my efforts to learn about publicizing my chapbook Hearts would revolve around envelopes.

I needed to buy envelopes to ship my book, first to family members and the poets who wrote back cover blurbs for me, later to out-of-town folks who ordered directly from me.

Most people ship books like this in padded mailing envelopes for extra protection. The book is 6×9 inches and there are 6×9 padded mailing envelopes, so it seemed straight-forward.

But, no.

Most 6×9 envelopes have that as their internal dimension but don’t accomodoate for thickness, so, even though, as a chapbook, Hearts is not very thick, it wouldn’t fit in most of the envelopes in the store.

I did find one Scotch one that worked because its internal dimensions are 9.25×6. Yay! I bought ten, which was about all they had on the shelf. When I used those up, I bought another ten. The store doesn’t have a lot out at once.

I was running low again, so went to the store and was happy to see they were on sale. There weren’t any on the shelf, so I asked for a rain check. They said they couldn’t do that but could order online.

Except they couldn’t, apparently because of the brand.

And they didn’t know when or if they’d ever get more in. They offered to substitute another brand but I explained kindly that those didn’t fit.

I tried looking for another supplier but couldn’t find an in-store one and the online shipping was too high to order them online and have them shipped to my home. Also, I did not need a box of 100 envelopes!

One of these days, I’ll go back to the store and see if more have appeared.

Meanwhile, I still have three from my last stash.

Realistically, most people order from Kelsay or Amazon. If you have a local independent bookstore, you can ask them to order it for you through Ingram.

See? I told you I was trying to learn marketing…
*****
Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “envelope.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2023/08/11/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-aug-12-2023/

Review: Barbie

The Barbie doll first appeared for sale in 1959, the year before I was born. As a child, my sisters and I played with some Barbie dolls. I remember that we had Barbie, Francie, and Skipper, who was my favorite because she was a pre-teen, like me. (We also had Ken, but he was superfluous.) Our Barbies had a lot of clothes, some made by my grandmother, but these were the days before there were tons of accessories.

My daughters also had some Barbies in the ’90s. There were Barbies, Teresa, (non-pregnant) Midge, Skipper, Stacie, and Kelly and friends. While there were lots more dolls and lots of accessories available, we didn’t have too many. There were not a lot of career-oriented Barbies at that point, although I remember T, in her imaginary play, creating a scenario where Barbie had a high-paying job because she liked expensive clothes and things but that she gave money to her sister who worked for a charity that helped people. What was important for T was that she had a gymnast Barbie and a couple of ballerina Barbies who could bend their arms and legs, pose, and twirl; T took dance classes and appreciated Barbies who were not stuck in one position. (They also had twin Kens, who were often cast as father-figures to the younger children in the Barbie universe.)

Yesterday, B, T, and I went to a movie theater together for the first time since before COVID to see Barbie. We had all seen the trailers and were expecting an entertaining movie and it did not disappoint. Greta Gerwig, the director and co-writer, along with Noah Baumbach, delivers a film that is multi-layered and attentive to detail. Margot Robbie is amazing as “stereotypical” Barbie who is forced to confront real-world stereotypes and the patriarchy. Ryan Gosling is well-matched as the sometimes clueless, sometimes superfluous Ken. I also enjoyed Simu Liu’s performance as a rival Ken.

While I had expected some laughs – and there were many – I had not expected tears. The story and dialogue of Gloria, tenderly portrayed by America Ferrera, was especially moving for me. I also appreciated the wisdom of Ruth, delivered by Rhea Perlman.

While we tend to think of movies based on toys as being for children, Barbie is not. It is rated PG-13 for good reason. Many tweens would enjoy it, while probably missing some of the social commentary in the film; younger children would most likely find it confusing.

Barbie‘s blockbuster status proves that many, many adults and teens are seeing and enjoying this film. Greta Gerwig has already set box office records for films directed by a woman. Maybe, someday, it won’t be remarkable to point out the gender of a film’s director.

Someday…

(Photo by Elena Mishlanova on Unsplash)

SoCS: five

When I was growing up, five was my favorite number because there were five people in my family, my parents, known here as Nana and Paco, and my two sisters, one older and one younger, and me.

It’s bittersweet to think of that now, with both Nana and Paco having passed on.

I don’t have a favorite number anymore.
*****
Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is to think of a number and write about it. Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2023/08/04/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-aug-5-2023/

New! Author Page!

I did a Useful Thing today!

For the first time, I made an attempt at assembling an Author Page. You can either click on the link or choose it from the main menu.

I also made a few updates to my About page.

I know that ideally I would have my own domain that centered my Author Page and poetry with a tab for my blog and maybe I’ll get there eventually, but, for now, this is a big step.

Tell me what you think! You can comment on the Page or here on this post and I’ll see what I can do to improve it.

With thanks,
Joanne

SoCS: par for the course

One more time…

I thought I had one.

As most of you know, I am a poet. This means doing submissions – and then waiting months for an answer. (Rarely, it is only days or weeks, but it’s usually months and sometimes over six.)

This morning, I saw that I had a response from an online anthology that I thought I had a good shot to win a place.

But, no.

While one of the poems had made the shortlist, I had not won a spot in the anthology.

Sigh.

It’s a good thing that Hearts came out so that I have a huge positive plus in my life as a poet because it cushions the rejections, of which I am on a pretty long streak at the moment.

Maybe soon I’ll get some positive news on a new submission.

Maybe…
*****
Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “one/won.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2023/07/28/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-29-2023/

dry eyes

I try not to whine here at Top of JC’s Mind, at least not about personal things.

But, today, I’m so frustrated that, in the name of honesty, I’m going to.

In April, I had cataract surgery with fancy implanted lenses, which was really amazing and means that I no longer need to wear glasses all the time as I had for decades.

The problem is that my previous issues with dry eye are back with a vengeance, clouding my vision.

This was not unexpected, as the surgery and all the drops you have to use after it do disrupt the status quo and increase the risk of dry eye, but my symptoms now are worse than they have ever been.

I’ve been back to my optometrist and am doing all the things I am supposed to be doing – preservative-free artificial tears, special hotpacks, taking flaxseed oil – but improvement has been slow. This is also not unexpected, but it is frustrating.

I can still see well enough to drive but close tasks are a chore. I have some over-the-counter reading glasses that help with some close tasks but, because my current state of cloudiness is caused by the dry eye rather than my focusing ability, the glasses magnify but don’t clarify.

This is making it hard to read things that are not printed in a large font. I can usually adjust when I read on screens but it’s hard to read things on paper. Kitchen work is annoying, too. It’s not that I can’t do these things but it is so taxing that I don’t especially want to.

I have another visit with the optometrist scheduled for next week to make sure there isn’t something else going on, like development of a secondary cataract or some kind of inflammation or infection.

Meanwhile, I’ll try to have this be my only whining post…

One-Liner Wednesday: remembering Tony Bennett

When asked if he got tired of singing “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” Tony Bennett replied, “Do you ever get tired of making love?”

This homage to Tony Bennett, who passed away last week at the age of 96, is brought to you through Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays. Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2023/07/26/one-liner-wednesday-whats-the-hold-up/

two months of Hearts

Almost two months ago, my first chapbook, Hearts, was published by Kelsay Books. It is available from Kelsay, from Amazon, from me personally (if you are local), or by asking your local bookstore to order it through Ingram.

I posted about the first month, so thought I’d do an update.

I’m embarrassed to say that I haven’t yet gotten my bookmarks and business cards printed or made any dates for readings/signings. Soon, I hope…

I have made some new inroads in publicity, thanks to Alignable, where I am listed as Top of JC’s Mind. I was invited to join a couple of groups there, Marketing for the Small Business and Networking for Introverts! (The exclamation point is part of the group name.) As a creative, I admit to being a bit of an odd duck in the groups, but I was lucky to meet Traci Poe of Communicate Great. She graciously offered to video chat with me and sent me a number of suggestions that I am implementing, such as using Instagram as a platform, linking it to my Top of JC’s Mind Facebook page. So, if you are on Instagram, you can now find me there as joannecoreypoet. I don’t know how helpful this will be in terms of promotion, as I don’t have a large following on either platform, but I’m trying. You may also notice that my TJCM post now have a featured image, which makes them directly shareable to Instagram, although Instagram posts use square images and some of mine are rectangular, so they get lopped off. Work in progress…

I’ve also learned to use Canva to create FB/IG posts and Meta Business Suite to schedule them. My skills are rudimentary, but I have managed to schedule out a series of posts featuring quotes from Hearts poems. Traci suggested I choose a color palette as a branding tool, but, so far, I am sticking with a clear, straightforward template with black Garamond type on a light gray background. I guess black and gray are colors. Right?

I have also tried to reach out to several places about reviews but haven’t heard back from any of them after several weeks. Not quite sure what to do about that…

Hearts is available at the Artisan Gallery, the shop of the Broome County Arts Council, and at Riverow Bookshop. I have an inquiry in at another local-ish bookstore, but I haven’t heard back yet. Are you noticing a theme?

Admittedly, my introversion is not helpful in this whole marketing piece that I’m trying to learn. All the outreach efforts are draining and anxiety-producing. None of this is helped by the fact that all my other volunteer commitments have either ramped up or hit unexpected snags lately, so I’m feeling overwhelmed. Not that that isn’t a familiar feeling for me…

It’s apparently a day for ellipses…

And questions?

That might be a bad sign…

Okay. Deep breath.

I can do this.

Maybe not as well as I would like.

Or as expeditiously.

And maybe it won’t matter in the long run if some of it never gets done.

I am trying – and learning as I go along.

And taking you all along with me here at Top of JC’s Mind.