Flare, Corona

by Jeannine Hall Gailey

Against a constellation of solar weather events and evolving pandemic, Jeannine Hall Gailey’s Flare, Corona paints a self-portrait of the layered ways that we prevail and persevere through illness and natural disaster. Gailey deftly juxtaposes odd solar and weather events with the medical disasters occurring inside her own brain and body— we follow her through a false-alarm terminal cancer diagnosis, a real diagnosis of MS, and finally the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The solar flare and corona of an eclipse becomes the neural lesions in her own personal “flare,” which she probes with both honesty and humor. While the collection features harbingers of calamity, visitations of wolves, blood moons, apocalypses, and plagues, at the center of it all are the poet’s attempts to navigate a fraught medical system, dealing with a series of challenging medical revelations, some of which are mirages and others that are all too real.  In Flare, Corona , Jeannine Hall Gailey is incandescent and tender-hearted, gracefully insistent on teaching us all of the ways that we can live, all of the ways in which we can refuse to do anything but to brilliantly and stubbornly survive.

Genres: Poetry

104 pages, Paperback

Published May 9, 2023

About the author

Jeannine Hall Gailey is a poet with Multiple Sclerosis who served as the second Poet Laureate of Redmond, Washington. She is the author of six books of poetry: Becoming the Villainess (Steel Toe Books, 2006,) She Returns to the Floating World (Kitsune Books, 2011,) Unexplained Fevers (New Binary Press, 2013) The Robot Scientist's Daughter (Mayapple Press, 2015), the winner of the Moon City Press Book Prize and the SFPA's Elgin Award, Field Guide to the End of the World, and the upcoming from BOA Editions, Flare, Corona. She's also written a guide to marketing for poets, PR for Poets. Her poems were featured on NPR's The Writer's Almanac and Verse Daily, and included in 2007's The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. Her work has appeared in journals like The Iowa Review, Prairie Schooner, The American Poetry Review, and Poetry. She has an MA in English from the University of Cincinnati and an MFA from Pacific University.
Jeannine also writes book reviews which have appeared in The Rumpus, American Book Review, Calyx, The Pedestal Magazine, and The Cincinnati Review.
She has written technical articles and published a book on early web services technology with Microsoft Press in 2004.

Reviews

[Lori Alden Holuta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having previously read The Robot Scientist’s Daughter, I felt a familiar sensation as I slipped into that uneasy, tissue-paper-thin comfort zone that Jeannine transports readers to so unnervingly well. Just a glance at the book’s section titles — Post-Life, Harbingers, Blood Moon, Corona — sent a flurry of goosebumps up my spine.

Jeannine has a knack for finding connections between the fallout of life in the atomic age and beyond, her own beloved yet traitorous body, and her readers hopes and fears. When that Venn diagram clicks into place, you will find her poems in the crossover spot at the center.

My favorite poem? “Calamity”. Of course, I expected a melding of graceful prose with horror, but I didn’t expect that it would be dished out this way. I was bowled over. You should have seen the look on my mug! But of course… Things Could Be Worse. (Yes, this is a cryptic paragraph. If you know… you know. If you don’t and you are curious, email me.)

I also need to mention “Not Dead but Post-Life”, which left me with the feeling that Jeannine somehow was privy to my own past, and a certain person who is no longer among us. If a poem can feel chilling and comforting at the same time, for me, it’s this one.

Which poems will resonate with you? I can’t predict that. We read them through the lens of our own thoughts and experiences. I encourage you to explore Flare, Corona, and make it your own.

My thanks to Jeanine Hall Gailey and BOA Editions, Ltd. for providing an advance review copy of Flare, Corona.

[Julene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flare, Corona, by Jeannine Hall Gailey is a wonderful observation on the trials and tribulations of our time. What is at risk. What is wrong. Yet, what is beautiful and worth living despite what we endure. She brings us through the pandemic, a false cancer diagnosis, then an MS diagnosis. All she has to traverse with the other hazards in this world. Her books are filled with humor, and lightness of heavy topics, and this book excels. I read it twice, loving her ability to thrive and to name the massive disfunctioning in our world. In the poem "I Am Not Expecting" she hits us with her triple whammy, no children, being told she would die from cancer, and then the diagnosis, "Congratulations! It's MS! No cards for that./No flowers. A nasty sort of surprise./Trips to the hospitals for scans and steroids./Nothing romantic or wondrous. No cause/for celebration. Except I am still here/and I am not expected to be elsewhere/for a while." The poem ends with the line, "don't worry, I'm not expecting much."

Her self-portrait poems are a wonderful way to track herself. In "Self-Portrait as an Escape Artist" she recounts her many escapes from death. She personifies death, "he seems so familiar,/an old sweater."

In the poem "Grimoire" she writes of ways of healing while in a hospital learning to walk again with a walker. She has essential oils to change the smell of the hospital; at home her husband cooks homemade soup, and her blue-eyed kitten waits. She writes, "Here is the truth of it: the miracle, the secrets your seek/are already at work within me—the cells that strive/for homeostasis, for regeneration, for immortality."

And through her lens we learn about survival and how to thrive while we are here. She has a poem titled "How to Survive" that goes through a list: The zombie apocalypse, A fire, A plague, A tsunami, Drowning with tips. It ends with the line: "Sing your song, put the note in a bottle, be remembered,/because someday soon, we will all be gone."

[Michelle Stockard Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like I read quite a bit of poetry, and I'm always amazed by how much a new collection touches me. This is a wonderful collection. In her poems, Gailey shares her personal journey, touches on current events and nature (our dying planet). I loved the "Self-Portrait As..." poems. As a fan of speculative fiction, I appreciated the elements of science fiction, fantasy and even horror. I really enjoyed the nod to witches in "Grimoire."

I felt "I Can't Stop" in my soul. "I can't stop thinking of the Doomsday Clock, how close we are to spinning into the black hole at the center of the galaxy." Does she know me?

Oh my goodness, "A Story for After a Pandemic" is one of the most beautiful poems I've ever read. Maybe it's because the pandemic affected me (everyone) so profoundly. I'm just not the same person I was before the pandemic. A little more frightened, a lot less social. "After the pandemic, we will rejoin at the river's edge, at the waterfalls and seasides, like animals. Praise the ocean, the sky, the stars: what doesn't protect us, what remains, what holds us together."

As I said, a wonderful collection of poems. Very highly recommended!

[Jennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flare, Corona positively aches with bone deep gratitude and appreciation for the ephemeral nature of life. These poems reflect a profound understanding and acceptance of mortality. The writer was grappling with a severe health crisis during the darkest days of the pandemic. And yet there is a sense of awe and wonder woven throughout her words. She expresses true optimism in the face of serious concerns about her own life and the life of the planet. Beyond the mastery of language, I really enjoyed the structure of this collection. I felt perfectly placed in time. Also I liked the fairy tale elements, this seems to be a trendy theme in a lot of the poetry I'm reading lately, but it worked especially well here.

[Wendy Wisner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been reading Jeannine Hall Gailey’s poems for years, and I am totally moved and wowed by her latest book. The poems feel urgent, relatable, heartbreaking, and ultimately, hopeful. The pandemic poems in particular captured moments in our shared history that still feel almost impossible to fully encapsulate or describe. These poems bear witness.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Review

I was absolutely moved and captivated by the heart and passion that the author relays her story of health battles and the pandemic. The use of story-driven, sci-fi, and dystopian genre writing styles to illustrate the author’s personal story was so remarkable and thrilling to see come to life on the page, and the humor and wit that underscores these apocalyptic-style poems made this a thrilling collection.

To me, the heart of this collection resides in the themes and imagery that the author utilizes in her work. The juxtaposition of the decay and darkness that surrounds humanity with the life and love that brings the light back into our lives was so remarkably moving, and the imagery that connects a brain scan to astronomical, and solar movements were both thought-provoking and heartfelt in its delivery.

The Verdict

Memorable, moving, and insightful, author Jeannie Hall Gailey’s “Flare, Corona” is a must-read collection of poems that speak to both the perils of health crisis and the hope that humanity draws from in times of need. The scope of the poems themselves and the creativity that they spark, and the imagery that the author’s poems bring to life made this a truly wonderful read.

[Lesley Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeannine Hall Gailey’s dazzling new poetry collection, Flare, Corona, explores parallel crises on many scales, from the microscopic to the telescopic. It tracks her diagnosis with cancer (they gave her six months) then re-diagnosis with multiple sclerosis, but she frames these experiences in relation to bigger catastrophes, somehow finding inspiration in it all. A poem that covers some of this territory, “Under a Blood Moon, I Get My Brain Scanned,” connects astronomical phenomena with lesions and neurons. Elsewhere, poems link solar flares with a familiar coronavirus, ahem. This comparative or metaphorical move is in the book’s DNA: omens of doom for humanity are widespread, but apocalypse can also be internal and local, especially when your cells are turning against you. Like a lot of other powerful writing, Flare, Corona oscillates between lenses, attentive both to tiny details and the big emotional stakes of facing how precarious life can be.

[Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I read poetry, I usually dip in and out of the poems for a few days in between other things but I read Flare Corona cover to cover in one sitting. I couldn’t look away from these beautiful poems. Jeannine Hall Gailey immediately drew me in as she shared some of her journey with being diagnosed with MS and cancer and living though the pandemic. As she writes she takes you there to the hospital visits and the diagnoses. I like the imagery she uses and some of the poems have a sci-fi feel to them.

These poems are about life, love, nature, health and survival as the author shares her journey through her poetry. I recommend Flare Corona to anyone looking to read a collection of moving poems. This is my favorite collection of poetry I’ve read so far this year.

[Lea Galanter · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many wonderful poems in this latest collection from Jeannine Hall Gailey! Despite all the darkness and disease there is life, and flowers. How does one survive a date with death, a reprieve, and a diagnosis of MS? By holding on to every moment, which Gailey does with beautiful language and humor ("Calamity"). I loved the series of "Self-Portrait" poems as well as "How to Survive" (the zombie apocalypse and other calamities), "When It All Falls Apart," and "When I Said Goodbye." These are poems I'll read over and over, savoring its juicy phrases, and appreciating life just a little bit more.

[Jeff Siperly · Rating 5 out of 5]

As with any book of poetry, this one can’t be read in one sitting.
Have to let each poem sink in for a day or two.
Author wrote this during the pandemic and also when she discovered she had multiple sclerosis.
Pandemic. Sickness. The end. Gloom. Doom. Hope.
It’s all here and done beautifully.
Man, did it make me think.
I loved her “self portraits” scattered here and there throughout the book.
Really interesting to get to know a person through verse - and discovering yourself as well.
Loved this.

[Marianne Mersereau · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite poem in this compelling book is "Self-Portrait as Late August Evening"...so many lovely lines about the end of summer and the author's facing the end of her life due to a medical diagnosis. "The beauty I have is the beauty of all things that disappear before you know you'll miss them," she writes. There is a lot of beauty in the language and sentiments in the poems in this moving collection.

[Rhiannon Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

small collection I would recommend to someone dealing with an illness

[Michelle McGrane · Rating 5 out of 5]

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗘𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗚𝗘 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯

𝗗𝗔𝗬 𝗢𝗡𝗘

Jeannine Hall Gailey’s 𝙁𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙚, 𝘾𝙤𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙖 (BOA Editions, Ltd., May 2023) consists of four sections: ‘Post-Life’, ‘Harbingers’, ‘Blood Moon’, and ‘Corona’. Out of the 74 poems that comprise the collection, there isn’t a single one that I do not love. I’m so happy to begin 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗢𝗻𝗲 of 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 with a collection that I will return to again and again.

[Bridgette · Rating 5 out of 5]

*a brilliant collection of poems, detailing chronic illness, the COVID pandemic and nature
*very well-written and poems are easy to read
*highly recommend

[Melissa Studdard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lit with intelligence and beauty, Flare Corona charts the journey of an ailing body on an ailing planet. I love the way poems on such difficult themes can be presented with so much grace and humor.

[Lesley Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flare, Corona explores parallel crises on many scales, from the microscopic to the telescopic: a series of difficult diagnoses, epidemic, climate change. Omens of doom for humanity are widespread, but apocalypse can also be internal and local, especially when your cells are turning against you. Somehow, though, she renders all this precarity vivid and funny. A great read, and an inspiring one.