Midnight Mousers, an anthology of noir stories featuring cats, including one from my writer-friend Devon Ellington, is now available through Amazon and coming soon from bookshop.org.
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/08/26/one-liner-wednesday-ive-been-abandoned/
For the past several years, the Boutelle-Day Poetry Center at my alma mater, Smith College, has offered a Blackout Poetry Project to the Smith community, including alums. In the blackout poetry style, one takes a page of pre-existing text and crosses out words or letters to create a poem. The pages are then sometimes embellished with color or other visual art elements. I have participated in prior years, such as the year when the theme was Emily Dashes, using the poems of Emily Dickinson.
This year’s theme is Monster Mash, creating blackout poetry using pages from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein. As you can imagine, the work is quite dark in tone, so I decided to take page 22, which was sent to me from the Center, and transform it into a brighter message.
As it may be difficult to read from the photo, the words I chose to highlight are:
arouse a multitude
excite good people
restore life
a new promise
My visual artist friends will, I’m sure, forgive my rudimentary collage but I felt that we are all in need of a bit of sunshine today.
Ellen Morris Prewitt‘s new novel, When We Were Murderous Time-Traveling Women, launches today, so get your copy of what promises to be an imaginative, fun read!
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/04/01/one-liner-wednesday-a-cure/
Today, I was reading the newsletter from Ellen Morris Prewitt, an author whom I met through her blog. Ellen’s newest book, When We Were Murderous Time-Traveling Women, will be published on April 1, 2026, so, if you follow her blog, you will get all the breaking news on that, such as when pre-orders will be starting.
I thought for today’s jot, I would re-purpose a comment that I wrote on Ellen’s Jan. 19th post about bombings and other hate crimes:
“Young men seem to be especially vulnerable to being radicalized against those of a different race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc. It’s horrifying, but also, as you say, Ellen, has its roots in our society. Unfortunately, in our time, white Christian nationalism has become more overt which, I think, makes hate and violence seem somehow acceptable to some. I think, though, that, for the majority, it is bringing home the reality of where hate leads and inspiring them to speak out, demonstrate, pray, or whatever mode they choose to oppose it.”
I hope you will visit Ellen’s blog and follow along. She is a fascinating writer with a compelling family and personal history to share.
*****
Join us for Linda’s Just Jot It January! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/01/20/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-20th-2026/
As we here in the United States are preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, I’m giving thanks for all the people who visit my blog, especially those who have stuck with me despite my irregular posting as I deal with personal and family health issues. ❤
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/11/26/one-liner-wednesday-what-did-you-do-yesterday/. Also, congratulate Linda on the publication of her new book, which came out yesterday!
Vote for Democracy #48
(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)
I’ve been experiencing life here in the United States with increasing alarm.
The cruelty, lawlessness, and incompetence of the Trump administration continues to accelerate while the suffering here and abroad continues to mount.
I will spare you a stream-of-consciousness list of all the component parts of this catastrophe, but the destruction by Trump of the East Wing of the White House presents a decent metaphor – lie about what you are planning and rush in and wreck things.
Millions upon millions of people here are fighting back to save our democracy and have a chance to re-build it and slowly repair to the extent possible the global damage inflicted but we haven’t been able to turn the tide yet. I don’t know how long it will take but we won’t give up.
Joyce Vance published her first book this week, entitled Giving Up is Unforgivable: A Manual for Keeping a Democracy. It’s what we need to do.
We won’t give up.
*****
Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “alarm.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/10/24/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-oct-25-2025/
As promised, Samantha Terrell’s Felling Trees: Selected Poems 2000-2025 from Low Hanging Fruit Publishing is now available! You can order through Amazon or ask your favorite bookstore to order it for you.
The publisher describes the collection: “Felling Trees gathers twenty-five years of sharp, unflinching verse from Pushcart and Forward Prize-nominated poet Samantha Terrell. Known for her clarity of vision and emotional honesty Terrell charts the evolution of a voice both politically alert and deeply personal. With selections from acclaimed collections and anthologized work, this retrospective offers a resonant exploration of resilience, justice, and human connection.”
One of the things I most enjoy about Samantha Terrell’s work is her extensive use of nature imagery, which she brings to bear in conversation with our present day issues. Here is a sample of that from the collection:
Fourth of July at the Beach
Fireworks burst, then fall in glittery strands
Like willow tree branches
Stretch to the earth –
White phosphorous bursts –
Disappearing into
Liquid blackness.
The rhythmic roar
Of the ocean’s engine drones on –
A reliable backdrop;
Steady slaps on a shore
That we, in ignorance
Or arrogance,
Still dare to call America.
Here, where
Colors rage against the sky,
We wait to see
If this great experiment
Can survive its newest threat
Of tyranny,
And we
Can save us
From ourselves.
*****
Congratulations, Samantha, on your new collection! Thank you to Low Hanging Fruit for bringing it into print!
I’m happy to share the news that, on September 25th, Felling Trees: Selected Poems 2000-2025 by Samantha Terrell will be released by Low Hanging Fruit!
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/09/10/one-liner-wednesday-not-a-duck-or-goose-in-sight/
Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “something that opens.”
Something that opens is my first chapbook, Hearts. In a shameless exercise in self-promotion, I’m using this post to draw attention to a post that I just finished about the second anniversary of Hearts.
Check it out!
A little over two years ago, Hearts, my first poetry chapbook was published by Kelsay Books. The poems center around my mother, concentrating on her final years as she lived with heart failure.
I know that many people are unfamiliar with the term “chapbook.” A chapbook is a short book that is usually organized around a central theme.
As someone who didn’t pursue poetry until later in life, I am honored to have a book in print. There are several ways to buy a copy: directly from Kelsay Books, from Amazon, on special order from any bookstore that has access to Ingram, or directly from me, in person or by mail. (Please send me an email at jcorey.poet@gmail.com to make arrangements.)
People who have been following my history as a poet know that I had very little formal coursework in poetry; I have developed my skills through the generous sharing of my poetry community, including the Binghamton Poetry Project, the Grapevine Poets, and the Boiler House Poets Collective.
What has been more difficult is developing the publicity skills needed to promote a book. I am by nature an introvert and struggle with self-promotion. I’m also not great with asking people to spend money. Unfortunately, there have been other obstacles in the form of personal and family health struggles that have kept me from doing a great job at selling my book.
I am very grateful for the friends – and the people who are unknown to me – who have read my book. I especially appreciate those who have reached out to me about Hearts, often sharing stories about their own loved ones. I write in order to connect with others and am deeply honored that my work resonates with them.
One thing that I hadn’t anticipated was what it feels like to lose friends who have read Hearts and written or spoken to me about it. It adds another aspect to their loss. I also wonder what will become of the copies that they had, especially when they are inscribed. I somehow imagine someone picking up a copy in a secondhand bookstore and wondering who the prior owner was and how I was connected to them.
I still hope to publish another book some day/year but I will always be pleased that my first book was about my mom.
And every time I see bleeding hearts, I think about Hearts and about her.
Joanne Corey 