Today I turn the Big 5-0! Roman Numeral L. Half of a century. 18,250 days. 438,000 hours. 26,297,460 Minutes. Somewhere around 1,577,923,200 seconds. Today I celebrate my Semi-Centennial as I turn 50 years old at exactly 12:17 PM. To some people, turning 50 is a death sentence. I blissfully disagree. I made it to 50 […]

Unlocking Level L — Jill Ocone

Long-time followers and those close to me know that two of the many things I absolutely love are writing about the Jersey Shore and journals/notebooks/planners. It’s Beautiful! And I Made It! An idea combining those two loves has been brewing in the back of my mind for a long time now, and a few months […]

So I Created Something… — Jill Ocone

I sit here facing the onset of a new year, much like I did last year, and the year before that, and the year before that, and so on… This time around, though, it’s different.  Today, when I say that hindsight is 2020, that’s literally true. Tomorrow, when I sing “20 20 24 hours to […]

Become to Believe — Jill Ocone

From the Soil: A Hometown Anthology, Published on December 22, 2020 I am very excited to announce that my poem titled “Boro Kids” was selected for publication in From the Soil: A Hometown Anthology, published by Exeter Publishing. From the Amazon Sales Page: “Our hometowns raised us all differently. Our roots absorbed different values and experiences […]

PUBLISHED IN “FROM THE SOIL: A HOMETOWN ANTHOLOGY” — Jill Ocone

I am very excited to announce that my poem titled “The Gingerbread Boy” was selected for publication in ‘Tis The Seasons: Poems for Your Holiday Spirit, published by Red Penguin Books. From Red Penguin’s website: “‘Tis The Seasons – Poems For Your Holiday Spirit” brings together poems by over thirty unique writers that celebrate the […]

Published in “‘Tis The Seasons: Poems for Your Holiday Spirit” — Jill Ocone

2020: What a long, strange roller coaster ride it’s been for all of us. We collectively entered the queue together in January and followed the long path that snaked through February. We stored our belongings and removed our glasses, hats, and shades and reached the front of the line in early March. We sat next […]

Thankful for 2020’s Roller Coaster — Jill Ocone

It’s November 15, 1980. I am nine years old. I listen to Casey Kasem’s Top 40 countdown for the week on my radio while I play in my bedroom. It’s yellow and green, my bedroom, with flowered, embossed wallpaper and a yellow shag carpet. My uncle had just given me the hottest toy of the […]

Forty Years Between — Jill Ocone

I take my first steps into today’s morning, and my feet are immediately submerged. The water, it rises second by second and minute by minute. The sharks, they start circling then snap at my legs as a jellyfish entangles my ankles with his long, slimy tentacles. He stings my skin something fierce, the discomfort searing […]

Capsized — Jill Ocone

Sometimes, There are No words To describe The incredulous Beauty of Our world. The rising sun Stretches her hues To dapple The current, The ocean’s color As the light Shimmies And dances Atop the waves Divine. How could I Have been Created by The same being Who built And I bask in Such beauty? The […]

Sublime — Jill Ocone