My Encephalitis Story Featured on the Encephalitis Society Site

Here is the link to my story. The rest of my blog is about how my case of encephalitis relates to my care for Mom when she was navigating Alzheimer’s.

https://www.encephalitis.info/barbaras-story

In my debut poetic memoir published last week on Amazon (Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir), I tell about my miraculous recovery from measles encephalitis. Mom was by my side daily at the hospital when I woke up from a month-long coma. When I reflect on her care, I realize that she was probably stretched because she had three other young children. Grant was 8, I was 7, Martha was 5, and Monty was a newborn.

Being young and sick, I figured she lived only to care for me. I had her attention and no one else did. I was only 6 when I became paralyzed, unable to speak, unable to eat solids, unable to move my arms away from my body. Mom fed me baby food and took care of my other needs. Later, I took care of her needs when she became too confused to balance her checkbook or even write a check, make it to the doctor’s office in her own, and so much more.

Also, just as Alzheimer’s would later burn away Mom’s memories, the Encephalitis burned away many of mine. Just as she took care of me, I took care of her. In my book, Three-Penny Memories, I have a poem called “Bookends”, page 125, which shows the similarities in Mom’s life and mine when it came to brain injuries. Also, in Chapter 1, Light, the poems on pages 23-30 recount my experience with encephalitis.

Thank you for reading and commenting! If you like the book, please think about writing a review on Amazon and recommending the book to families who may benefit from my perspective as a caregiver to a parent with Alzheimer’s or to a family affected by encephalitis.

By the way, the Kindle book is now a best-seller on Amazon among the poetry books on death. I know what matters is the book itself, but I’m having fun tracking the sales for now.

Barbara Harris Leonhard

Amazon Best-Selling Author

Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir, (EIF-Experiments in Fiction, 2022)

Pushcart Poet Nominee, 2022

Facebook: Barbara Harris Leonhard /barbara.leonhard

Twitter: @BarbaraLeonhar4

Instagram: @meelosmom123

Linked In: ExtraordinarySunshineWeaver

Tumbler: barbaraharrisleonhard

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, Healing, Memoir, My Mother, Publication, Writing

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