Author: Jo-Anne Teal

I'm a writer who is particularly interested in telling stories of the hidden, the hurt, the silent, the unheard.

Amid the challenges, for this and more, I give thanks.

~ Jo-Anne Teal ~ 1 Comment

It is Thanksgiving 2021 and definitely time for me to consider the many blessings that have dotted my life over the past year, actually the past several years.

I always begin with my gratitude for having a job that pays my bills and a home that shelters me in more ways than keeping me out of the rain. I work for a wonderful organization that contributes to community and I have lived in my safe, pleasant apartment for many years. I am one of the lucky ones.

Since the pandemic, I have been blessed to work from home. Given past health issues, this truly has been a blessing.

I give thanks for the kindness of relative strangers, like my neighbour who volunteers cheerfully to collect my mail when he gets his.

I began meditating a bit this year. I’m just easing into it but I find a calm surround that lasts.

I give thanks for my coworkers who laugh and cajole as we get through our days. We are serious too but a shared sense of humour brings us together as a team.

Over the past months, I have been reading more and this lifts my spirits more than I can say. The beauty of creative writing is my passion. I love ideas and emotions, thoughts and styles, brought forward in unique tellings. Reading also makes my own poems and stories possible; it opens the wonder and what-ifs and why-nots.

Ultimately, I’m grateful for the past, the present and the future. There have been challenges, heartbreak, defeat – in other words, there has been life. But through even the worst of it I have always grasped and clung to hope.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Photo by eberhard šŸ– grossgasteiger on Unsplash

Threshold

~ Jo-Anne Teal ~ 18 Comments

He keeps the window open almost always.

For he canā€™t shake off the dusty layer heā€™s gathered over time.

His elbow has a bruise, purple yellow at a glance, from bumping into walls,

Down darkening halls, he has no reason to travel.

But he keeps a distance from the door, never seems to reach it.

It used to creak, that door, the front door on the first floor,

Where many, too many, have stood in indecision

On the other side, never his side.

He can’t see the scuff marks on the once white threshold,

Where theyā€™ve stopped, moved no farther,

No further, in his case, in any event, in an emergency he would step out, step over.

No doubt, one day soon he will, he’ll have to leave.

But until that day, until that time,

He keeps the window open almost always.

d’Verse Poetics – Oral Poetryhttps://dversepoets.com/2021/08/31/poetics-oral-poetry/

Photo above from Unsplash taken by Frank Busch.

The Endgame: release date and pre-order links

~ Jo-Anne Teal ~ 1 Comment

I have enjoyed Chris James’s writing for many years. The Repulse series has been his BEST yet!! Can’t wait for the next installment – The Endgame. I’ve pre-purchased my copy already!!

Chris James's blog

The completion of a new novel leads to a lot of what I call ā€œbook adminā€. The first and most important issue is the cover. The cover for The Endgame didnā€™t take long because I had it visualised in my head for some time while writing it, so I only had to play around for a few hours to create it. But in addition to that, all other aspects of my online presence need work. So, I have to update my biography for my website and Amazon, add the new cover to my header images and replace them on all social media platforms, and then let all of you know that the next book is on the way.

The Repulse Chronicles, Book Four: The Endgame will be published on Amazonā€™s Kindle on 30 May. The paperback will likely be available a few days before then. As regular readers will knowā€¦

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There was a day

~ Jo-Anne Teal ~ 5 Comments

There was a day when I was twelve.

I sat upon a purple blanket, on the green field beside the parkā€™s baseball diamond.

The sun blazed hot.

My bare toes searched through cool blades of June grass.

I had no cares except everything.

Happiness.

***

44 word quadrille for this week’s d’Verse prompt: happiness