Nomination for Publication of the Year on Spillwords

My poem, “Marie Kondo Cleans My Purse at Starbucks” has been nominated Publication of the Year on Spillwords. The poem follows. If you like the poem, would you vote for it? It would mean a lot to me. The poem is included in my debut poetry collection, Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir (EIF-Experiments in Fiction, 2022).

Congratulations to all of the nominees in each category! I’m humbled to have my name listed next to yours!

VOTING will be officially held from January 26th – January 31st on our voting page: https://spillwords.com/vote/

Please note, you need to register and/or login to vote.

Marie Kondo Cleans My Purse at Starbucks

Konmari sees me at Starbucks. 
My purse spills over on the counter.
“May I help?”

She gathers me up
like I’m antique lace 
washed too many times.

Before she begins, she whispers,
“Hello, the House,
I am safe. May I enter?”

She pokes through my purse, 
pulling out the deck of cards 
Mom once carried in her own purse. 

A heavy bag of Mom’s pennies 
to redeem for cash.
Her checkbook.

The messy calendar
that listed her appointments
alongside my own.

The quilt she made me, 
now falling apart. A cookbook
compiled in her own hand.

Konmari extracts other artifacts,
laying them gently on lined up tables.
People gather. My eyes bleed.

The extra-large pair of panties
Mom made me wear to Sunday school.
The wash, still not done.

A half-used bottle of Diethylstilbestrol 
she was prescribed to prevent spotting 
when I was in utero.

The tricycle she rode 
around town at age three 
because her mother never watched her.

My cancer scares, scattered 
on the bottom of the purse 
like cookie crumbs.

The scabs inflicted 
by her compression stockings
I failed to wash one last time.

The clump of tissue 
I miscarried, swaddled 
in an inner pocket.

Her hysterectomy scar.
My hysterectomy scar.
Entwined on a spool.

My t-shaped uterus, 
clenching a half-used packet 
of Puffs Plus.

A dogeared photo of Mom.
A mirror reflecting 
who I want to be.

Konmari has me 
hold each item 
one last time, saying,

“Thank you, tiny soul, 
for sharing your life. I am
grateful.”

She teaches me 
how to fold joy 
three times.

How to throw out
what I can 
no longer carry.

Copyright © 2022 Barbara Leonhard
All Rights Reserved


Thank you so much! I really appreciate you!

Amazon Best-Selling Author
Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir (EIF-Experiments in Fiction, 2022)
Pushcart Nominee, 2022
Facebook: Barbara Harris Leonhard /barbara.leonhard
Twitter: @BarbaraLeonhar4
Instagram: @meelosmom123
Linked In: ExtraordinarySunshineWeaver
Mastodon: @BarbaraLeonhard@msdtn.social




Featured Image: by 1tamara2 on Pixabay
Divider Image: by GDJ on Pixabay

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.

Memoir, Poem, Poetry

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