Category: writing

SoCS: my new piece!

I’ve had a new piece published!

It’s a personal essay rather than my usual poetry.

I posted about it earlier and, yes, this is a way to get more views for Generations Today, who published this story of my relationship with nature and how that lead to my climate activism.

Enjoy!
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Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is to build the post around a word that has “i before e.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/09/27/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-28-2024/

Boiler House Poets Collective at the Bear & Bee!

For North Adams, Massachusetts area folks, the Boiler House Poets Collective invites you to a reading at the Bear & Bee Bookshop, 28 Holden St., North Adams, on Wednesday, October 9, at 7 PM.

This is our only public event during our week as a workshop-in-residence at the Studios at MASS MoCA.

The reading will be a sampler of the work of our ten residents this year, lasting about an hour, followed by Q&A and light refreshments.

Bear & Bee will be selling books by our poets with the authors available to do signings.

Please join us for this free event!

Article in Generations Today!

I am thrilled to announce that I have an article in the September/October issue of Generations Today, the online magazine of American Society on Aging. Many thanks to Alison Biggar, editorial director, for the invitation to contribute and for the editorial assistance, titling, and attention to all the other little details that go into publication.

The theme of the issue is the relationship with nature and volunteerism among elders. My piece is “One Woman’s Evolution Into a Climate Warrior” – not a term that I would claim on my own, but one that I gratefully accept as bestowed by Alison.

The article traces my involvement with the natural world and renewable energy from my childhood up to the present time with shout-outs to the anti-fracking movement in New York, the Creation Care Team at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Binghamton, and Third Act.

There is even a link to Silver Birch Press, who first published my poem “How I Help Heal the Earth from Upstate New York” as part of their HOW TO HEAL THE EARTH series. The poem is reprinted in the article.

When Alison first approached me to contribute to this issue, she said they were looking for someon who could “wax poetic” about nature and volunteering for a climate change organization. I’m not sure she expected an actual poem to appear in the article but this “late-blooming” poet could not resist!

I hope you enjoy the article and the others in this issue of Generations Today and that they inspire you to reflect on your own relationship with nature and to volunteer if you are able, whatever your age, location, or circumstance. Together, we can make a difference!

(Photo credit: Brent Boivert)

11

Top of JC’s Mind is now 11 years old.

I observed my tenth anniversary by finally claiming my own domain as joannecorey.com and with a long, reflective post.

This year’s post is decidedly low-key, in part due to my health issues that are limiting my brainpower and energy.

I’ve also been struggling to deal with complications that occurred when I upgraded my plan to have my own domain last September. The behind-the-scenes wrangling finally got resolved but I really need to choose a theme with newer features so that I can keep the blog’s look while also having my author site pages display with my photo. I really like the clean, easy-on-the-eyes look of my current theme, Twenty Sixteen, but it doesn’t allow me to have a separate look for my blog. Someday, I’ll have the time, brain, and tenacity to get it sorted, but that time isn’t now.

I’m not someone who views their stats very often, but my blogaversary seems a good time. My current all-time views number is 70,855 with 39,647 visitors from 129 countries for 2,013 posts. There are 1,933 subscribers.

Whether you are a regular reader of Top of JC’s Mind or someone who just happened upon this post, I’m grateful that you are here. I want to send a special thank you to my handful of ever-faithful readers and commenters. You know who you are! I appreciate your support over the long haul, especially in the challenging times where my posting has been sporadic and/or mired in a single, all-consuming narrative.

So, on to year 12! Here’s hoping for some better health in the coming year so I can get more writing done.

In gratitude,
Joanne Corey of Top of JC’s Mind

One-Liner Wednesday: Anger by Merrill Oliver Douglas

SWWIM Every Day is featuring the poem “Anger” by my fellow Grapevine and Boiler House poet Merrill Oliver Douglas, with the special bonus of a recording of Merrill reading her work. Enjoy!

This post is brought to you through Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays. Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/09/11/one-liner-wednesday-do-you/

SoCS: time

“Tick-tock. Time’s a-wasting.”

I remember that saying from when I was young, although I haven’t heard it for a long time now.

But, yeah, time is rushing by with so much pressure these days.

My inbox is filled with urgent messages about the upcoming election, the climate crisis, closing submission calls for poetry and manuscripts, important meetings and webinars, pleas for donations. (I probably should have said inboxes, as I have several email addresses that I have to maintain.)

And I have very limited energy to respond.

While we continue to rule out reasons for my health issues, we haven’t been able to track down the underlying cause. We are addressing the symptoms that we can but the most upsetting ones, the fatigue and brain fog, aren’t able to be improved at this point. I’m working around them as best I can by listening to my body and trying to be gentle with myself.

But, tick-tock, time is rushing by with all its demands and things that can’t/won’t wait.

And I’m only able to do a sliver of what I wish I could.

I do try to remind myself that I’m only a very, very, very tiny entity in this world and in all these efforts and that others are taking up the slack. It won’t be my fault if the election goes to the Republicans and they crash the country and trash the climate (except that I know I share the guilt of social sin, but I can’t stream-of-consciousness an explanation of Catholic social justice doctrine and our responsibilities to humanity and the world. And you’re welcome that I’m not trying to.)

The more personal side of dealing with my health right now is that I have a ton of work to do with my poetry and it is taking a loooong time to do it, if I can do it at all. There is also the sinking feeling that it isn’t as good as it could/should be. There is also the fear that I won’t be able to recover fully from this and will face yet another instance in my life where I set aside my own work to deal with other pressing concerns and then lost the ability to go back to it. I am content with those past choices I made and would not change them, but this feels different because it is my own health that is the obstacle this time.

The biggest regret, though, is that another family member is dealing with a bigger health issue and I’m not as able to help as I would like to be.

Tick-tock. Time’s a-wasting…
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Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “tack/tech/tick/tock/tuck.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/09/06/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-7-2024/

back in the saddle (sort of)

Early this morning, I sent out a couple of (hopelessly above my level) submissions of my revised, full-length poetry collection, which centers on the North Adams, Massachusetts area.

I had mentioned in my National Poetry Month wrap-up that I would be working on revisions after feedback from April Ossmann. Unfortunately, my revision work got sidetracked by my still-mysterious medical condition, but I’ve been chipping away at it on days when my brain fog allows. It’s been difficult for me not to be able to workshop some of the revisions with my Grapevine Poets friends, but I decided the manuscript had been out of circulation for more than long enough that I had to skip this step.

I sent it today to a couple of places that were closing at the end of the month. They are not on my list of target publishers but are places that I want to support. If I’m going to send them money, I might as well send my manuscript rather than just a donation.

I’ll try to send out some more submissions soon. I will continue to sneak in some more revisions, too, especially if I can manage to get enough energy back to be able to workshop again.

Onward – however haltingly…

Poem in The Sandy River Review!

(Cover Art by Charlie Scalia-Bruce <3)

I’m pleased to announce that my poem “Confessional” has been published in the annual print edition of The Sandy River Review. I admit that I love seeing my poems in print; the edition will also be available online at a future date.

Many thanks to the Humanities Department of the University of Maine at Farmington, their Creative Writing students and faculty, and the editorial team for including me in this beautiful volume of poetry, prose, and visual art.

“Confessional” was written in response to a July, 2020 Binghamton Poetry Project prompt based on James Wright’s “Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota.” It’s about my first confession as a Catholic second-grader. In the spirit of no poem ever really being finished, a revised version is part of my full-length manuscript which I will begin submitting to contests and presses soon.

patience

They say that patience is a virtue.

Sometimes, I’m better with it than others.

I’ve been wanting to write a long, catch-up post for my Vote for Democracy ’24 series because so much has happened, but I haven’t had much good-quality brainpower to do it.

Sorry about that.

I hope you have more patience with me than I have with myself.

SoCS: Joyce’s chickens

One of the substacks I read regularly is Joyce Vance.

She is a lawyer and legal scholar whose commentary I hear often on television. She writes long and thoughtful posts about the current legal issues in the United States, of which there are many.

To lighten things, she also posts about her hobbies.

She will show us what her latest knitting project is, for example.

The thing other than law about which she posts most, though, is her chickens.

She and her family keep a coop with several varieties of chickens. She posts about what she is feeding them. Their interactions with the family’s dog and cat. Their new coop. What they are doing around the yard. How they hop up into her lap sometimes.

She will also occasionally post photos of their eggs. Because there are different breeds, the eggs are various colors and sizes.

The chickens bring Joyce comfort and joy, which she shares with her readers.

I admit that I have no desire to care for chickens myself, but I appreciate Joyce’s sharing her love with all of us.
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Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “chicken or egg.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/06/28/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-29-2024/