My gratitude to Editor Strider Marcus Jones for curating my poem today in his esteemed Lothlorien Poetry Journal. I’m so honored.
Dierik took the photo of me in the field of Henbit after we did a hike of over 3 miles along the Missouri River on a trail he helped craft through time. Because of a bad knee, I was unable to join him on walks, and he is delighted that I can venture out now that I have a new knee. That first day, he was so proud to show me all the landmarks from his stories of his walks. The poem sings of aging, loss, and healing. Of actually finding myself again, out of pain and back on the path in the new spring of the riparian forest along the river with my husband as my tour guide. We also love the drives in the country, especially when we can see the lush purple Henbit. On our way home from one of our riverside walks, we just have to stop to admire the Henbit, and he says, “Walk into the field.” In the setting sun, I rise.
Here are the first lines of the poem.
I Find Myself in a Field of Henbit
For years, knee pain & inflammation. Inactivity.
The pandemic. The lockdown. Grocery delivery.
Rides in the car. Couldn’t walk far.
Knee sleeves. Pain patches. Handrails.
Good leg up. Bad leg down. But then—
the good leg swells & cries, as well.
Sciatica stretches like a spider down my legs.
It eats my sleep. I’m caviar on old bones.
My mood lays black tar in my path…..
Thank you for reading the rest of the poem on Strider’s site. He works many hours a week creating beautiful posts and publishing anthologies. Consider making a donation. His journal is up to 600,000 views and counting!
https://lothlorienpoetryjournal.blogspot.com/2024/04/one-poem-by-barbara-leonhard-with.html
Amazon Best-Selling Author, Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir (EIF-Experiments in Fiction, 2022); Pushcart Nominee (2022, 2023).
Her uncle asks, Do you love your mother? Can a daughter doubt her love for her mother who is navigating Alzheimer’s? Can she learn to love the stranger her mother is becoming?
Facebook: Barbara Harris Leonhard /barbara.leonhard; Instagram: @meelosmom123; Twitter @BarbaraLeonhar4
Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver 
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