Praise for Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir

I was so appreciative and honored to receive advance praise for Three-Penny Memories. These reviews are in my book, and I would like to share them with you. Thank you Walter Bargen, Kristiana Reed, James Dias, and Jill Mc Cabe Johnson!

“Barbara Leonhard has given us a memoir that is an intricately woven tapestry of loss, grief, and struggle for reconciliation. She is an archeologist sifting for news of a maternal relationship buried in hurt and anxiety. Alzheimer grabbed her mother and she was dragged down into that shadowy abyss. What disappeared with her are the answers to the questions a desperate daughter mourns and carries through each day. When her mother moves in with her daughter, a shattering doubt enters through the door with her. Is the daughter’s care given out of love or obligation? Is Three Penny Memories careless change or rare coins that glitter in a corner of the excavation of Leonhard’s family? Only the reader can decide. A stunning first book!”

Walter Bargen, Missouri’s first Poet Laureate, author of several books, including My Other Mother’s Red Mercedes, Pole Dancing in the Nightclub of God, and You Wounded Miracle.

“Ever since Barbara Leonhard’s first submission to Free Verse Revolution, her work has been a pleasure to read. Leonhard is a storyteller; her poetry shares lived experience as well as narratives she has listened to or witnessed in her writing journey. Her work is always refreshingly honest and human, In fact, I find her portrayal of a parent/child relationship in this collection to be incredibly raw and moving. And it has been particularly special to experience the development of Leonhard’s craft over the past few years. I am grateful to have worked with Barbara Leonhard and to have published many of her poems about her and her mother. It is about time these pieces had a very special home of their own, in this collection.”

Kristiana Reed, Editor-in-Chief, Free Verse Revolution: a literary magazine

“I really resonated with these very moving and haunting poems…marvelous work.”

James Dias, Poetry Editor, Anti-Heroin Chic

This collection includes “much to admire, including the depths explored in these poems of the mother-daughter relationship, how the past and present connect (and disconnect) through memory and memory loss, and the perceived sincerity of the speaker’s voice.”

Jill McCabe Johnson, Editor-in-Chief, Wandering Aengus Press and Trail to Table Press

To mark the launch of the book, we will be holding a Zoom Launch Event on 15 October at 17:00 BST (12:00 EDT, 11:00 CDT) in which I will read some poems, and we will talk about the creation of the book. We hope you can join us! Here are the Zoom details:

Topic: Three-Penny Memories Launch Event
Time: Oct 15, 2022 05:00 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82679269428?pwd=SXNlWStaWE5oV0VENjk2NDFXRTQzUT09

Meeting ID: 826 7926 9428
Passcode: 002013

Published by Meelosmom

I am a poet weaver. I love going within to excavate the bits of my soul that need reassembly into words. I weave in other ways. I’m also a collagist, assembling snippets of images into a new whole with deep meaning. Each collage is a poem. This year, I've also started drawing neurographica, and since beginning this art therapy, I can't believe how many new connections I've been making and new opportunities. This art form has changed my life and, I believe, my poetry writing. I can also call myself a memoirist. 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. This year I found a publisher for my book - EIF (Experiments in Fiction), which is owned and operated by Ingrid Wilson. The book was the #1 Release in Family Poetry on Oct. 15, 2022, and it attained best-seller status in three poetry categories over the next few days. In Nov. 2022, EIF nominated me for a Pushcart Prize for a poem in my book, “Mom and I Play Lassos with our Hysterectomy Scars”. In 2021-22, I submitted 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.” My poem "Marie Kondo Cleans My Purse at Starbuck's" was voted publication of Jan/Feb in 2022. In June 2022, I was honored to have two poems from my collection published in what became an Amazon best-selling anthology Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women (Gabriela Marie Milton. ed., also published by EIF - Experiments in Fiction). 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. This year I've also enjoyed interviews with Eri Nelson with SheShedStudios on VloggingPod (June 2); with Victoria Onofrei for "Victoria in Verse" on Bloomsbury Radio (August 14); with Thomas Whyte for Poetry Mini Interviews (a 5-part series in August and September); with Paul Brookes for Wombwell Rainbow (July 22); and others are forthcoming. In November, Gabriela Marie Milton asked me if I would succeed her as Editor for Masticadores USA, and I really love it! My husband Dierik is a musician of Bluegrass, Cajun, and Country music. He's also a wonderful music teacher. We've rescued and lost many cats over the years. Our last set of three cats is now down to one, Jasper, who was the youngest of the three. JoJo and Saga sadly succumbed to cancers since the pandemic started. Catch me at... Facebook: Barbara Leonhard Twitter: @Barbara.Leonhar4 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. ©2022 Barbara Leonhard 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.

EIF - Experiments in Fiction, Poetry, Review, Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir

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