I’ve been nominated for Author of the Month at Spillwords! I guess writing poetry while hiding away for almost two years has paid off. May I have your support? To vote, simply click on the link. To vote, you have to register or log in. Voting ends on October 29, 2021.
Thank you all for your support! You’re the best!
Featured Image: pixels.com
My gratitude to the editors at Spillwords Press, Rebecca M. and Dagmara K., for the invitation to be interviewed. It was a delight and honor.
My gratitude to the editors of Anti-Heroin Chic for publishing a poem of mine in this month’s issue.
http://heroinchic.weebly.com/blog/poetry-by-barbara-harris-leonhard
Issue III: hestia (hearth & home) is now available to download! The digital download is completely free but if you wish to donate/pay as you feel, you can do so through the Donate tab. Issue III: hestia (hearth & home) explores what home means to us all through poetry, prose, photography & artwork. Contributors reveal how […]
Issue III released — Free Verse Revolution:
I have two poems in this issue. ”Hestia for Hire” and ”Mermother: A Rogue Dream Poem”. As I said in an earlier post, I am so grateful. Thank you, Kristiana Reed, for including my work.
Featuring 54 fantastic creators and writers, Issue III: hestia (hearth & home) will be released on Saturday, 25th September. The issue will be free …
Coming 25th September
I have two poems in this upcoming issue of Free Verse Revolution: A literary magazine. The poems are from my as yet unpublished collection of memoir poems about me and my mother, who passed from Alzheimer’s in 2016. One poem is “Hestia for Hire”, which is about my last visit with my parents before my dad died and the deterioration of Mom’s health and behavior. The other poem is “Mermother: A Rogue Dream Poem” (after Melanie Figg). In a rogue dream poem, one dream interrupts another and the end of the poem shows the real outcome. I see my mother in one dream state on a ship and I am trying to protect her in a storm. In another dream she is a mermaid. I am her octopus friend. I also see us shopping and having fun in another dream. The outcome is my loss of her.
I hope you will enjoy the issue. The editor, Kristiana Reed announced the line up of contributors a few days ago. I am humbled to be among these writers. Thank you, Kristiana!
My collection of memoir poems I mentioned is out searching for a publisher! I submitted to some contests just to take a few risks. You saw another poem from this collection, “Cooking a Life with a Wire Spine”, which was published in Spillwords as a featured poem on their main page in August, and it was nominated for publication of the month. It didn’t win. Another poem from the collection will be published by Anti-Heroin Chic next month.
I owe a great deal to the Free Verse Revolution blog (now archived) and new literary magazine. Their positive response to my poetry has encouraged me to grow as a poet and aim high. This means writing my own poetry collection and finding success with other publishers. I am truly grateful.
I am a poet weaver. Many of my poems are spiritual, for I love going within to excavate the bits of my soul that need reassembly into words. As a sunshine weaver, I’m also a collagist, assembling snippets of images into a new whole with deep meaning. Each collage is a poem.
My poetry weaves together the metaphysical, metaphorical, magical, and mystical around grief, loss, love, and forgiveness. I believe healing words are so needed at this time. It is empowering to read poetry aloud, so I also started a poetry podcast on Podbean called Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul. meelosmom.podbean.com
I have compiled a poetry collection called Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir, which is about me and my mother, who passed from complications related to Alzheimer’s in 2016. Our lives were woven together in amazing symmetry, like a collage, around our mother wounds, our near deaths, and losses that impacted our relationship. I am looking for a publisher for the book and am investing in entering some contests.
Meanwhile, I am submitting poems from it with some success. One poem, “Cooking a Life with a Wire Spine” was published as a featured work on Spillwords, and in August 2021, was nominated as Publication of the Month. Also, in September 2021, Free Verse Revolution: A literary magazine, published two other poems from my collection, “Hestia for Hire” and “Mermother: A Rogue Dream Poem”. Kristiana Reed, the editor of Free Verse Revolution: A literary magazine, kindly writes in an email, “The portrayal of a parent/child relationship in both pieces was incredibly raw and moving.”
It is humbling that my poetry is getting recognized in other ways. In the anthology Well-Versed 2021 (available on amazon.com), “Picasso Dreams Broken Glass” won Third-Place in Poetry and “From Your Son” received Honorary Mention.
I’m married and have two rescued male cats, Saga and Jasper. My husband Dierik is a musician of Bluegrass, Cajun, and Country music. He’s also a wonderful music teacher.
Catch me at…
Poetry Podcast: meelosmom.podbean.com
Facebook: Barbara Harris Leonhard
Twitter: @Barbara17609138
Instagram: @meelosmom123
Why Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver?
Weaver is Source, who connects all things.
Strings and threads are cloth woven for wear.
Sunshine is Source, who reaches out rays
Like fingers to heat and heal,
To create Spring, spiritual connection,
To nurture Gaia,
To create rain as food,
To dream life,
To forge love
And evolve Source.
Extraordinary is this mystery.
All extends from Source as fingers of light
To nourish and thrive,
And as night falls awake so do all
Return to Source.
Copyright © 2021 Barbara Harris Leonhard
Image: by Jessicajoh on Pixabay
Unless otherwise stated, all published works are the original works of the author and are copyrighted. Contents of the blog may be re-used either for personal or commercial purposes, in part or whole only with permission and the author duly acknowledged with links to the blog embedded.
My poem Cooking a Life with a Wire Spine has been nominated for Publication of the Month at Spillwords Press. People can vote for the poem by clicking on the link. You may have to register for free to vote. Thank you!! 🙏🙏🙏
Update: My poem didn’t make Publication of the Month. Maybe another time! 🍾🍾🍾
I am so humbled and honored to have two poems included in this issue. Thank you, Kristiana Reed!
The poems are from my collection of memoir poems about my mother and me. I look forward to your impressions of them once this issue is published.
Today, as a FEATURED post, Spillwords Press published a memoir poem I wrote about me and my mother. I’m so excited. Thank you, Spillwords!
https://spillwords.com/cooking-a-life-with-a-wire-spine/
This poem is one of 63 poems in my first poetry collection, a poetic memoir of my mother and me. More to come on that!
I received a nice surprise today, another poem up with Dark Poets Club (England). They are generous and accept poems from your blog, in case you are interested. So some of you may recognize this poem. Also, I like them because the small submission fee is donated to mental health causes.
https://www.darkpoets.club/post/the-unwelcome-tenant
