Mud on Her Boots

Reading Corene Johnston's poetry is a bit like visiting her wooden clapboard home nestled in a hollow of the Pennsylvania mountains. With open arms she welcomes you to come inside, pull up a chair at the sturdy yellow farm table for some freshly baked bread hot from the oven, and to savor moments together pondering the imponderable.

Corene's poetry is intimate and stark. Her poems take us from joy to melancholy and back again -- a tribute to the human experience in keenly observed detail and sometimes muddy facets. Corene's words reflect her sojourn of celebrating, sauntering and slogging through her 67 years. They reveal her passion as a writer, artist, nurse and cancer warrior.

Pause and allow the seconds to brush softly against your face while cradling each poem of which she has painstakingly given birth. House rules dictate: "Relax, kick back, put your feet up on the coffee table and -- exhale." Doing so, is the next best thing to being with Corene at Champagne Cork Farm.

Citește tot Restrânge

Notă biografică

Born Corene Trevelyn Johnston in 1943 in Muskegon, Michigan, the poet had a traditional mid-western upbringing that nurtured her intimate connection to nature and her love for animals. Her poetry is autobiographical to a great extent, serving as a supplement to her lifelong passion for journaling. Corene valued formal education as demonstrated by her careers as a registered nurse, a nurse practitioner in Women's Health and a Reiki practitioner. She also believed that learning from alternative sources was as important as collecting degrees. In addition to poetry, Corene wrote food articles, the "hard news" of a small town and a regular rural-life column for local newspapers and publications. Corene shared her life not only with her partners but also with numerous friends who she embraced as family. Although she survived five episodes of breast cancer, she never allowed cancer to define her. Instead, she used this as yet another life event that influenced and focused her writing. Corene left this earth in 2010, leaving behind family and friends who love her still for the precious gifts of love, laughter, spirited discourse and celebration of life. Blessed Be and champagne all around.