Category: Memoir

Poet Weaver
Free Verse Revolution · Healing · Honors · Memoir · Podcasts · Poetry · Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul · Writing

Poet Weaver

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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.

An Honor
Honors · Memoir · Poem · Publication · Recognition/ Honor · Spillwords · Writing

An Honor

extraordinarysunshineweaver4 Comments

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! 🍾🍾🍾

https://spillwords.com/vote/
Memoir · My Mother · Poem · Publication · Spillwords

Cooking a Life with a Wire Spine – New Publication

extraordinarysunshineweaver4 Comments

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!

Such an Honor
Honors · Memoir · Publication · Well Versed

Such an Honor

extraordinarysunshineweaver5 Comments

Well Versed 2021: A Collection of Poetry and Prose accepted three of my poems. One earned Third Place in Poetry and another, Honorary Mention. The anthology can be purchased on Amazon. Thank you Columbia Writers Guild, judges, and editors!

Honorary Mention

From Your Son

     In Memory of George Floyd (May 25, 2020)

I am through, Mama.

Across shackled seas

These chains & ropes

knuckled tight to hanging trees.

Hate, a masquerade

under white, hooded robes,

disguised constraints,              

a force of captivity

in black and white terms

from fields to farms

to racial divide.

Our souls, handcuffed                 

to plows, to prisons,

as crosses burned,

sisters raped,

brothers gunned down

for opening their own gates.

But no one can cut our stride,

nor can the blue shield

take another knee

to choke our certitude

to force us to salute servitude.          

Mama, see how

our crest of unity rises.

The world resounds     

our gospel songs

of grief released                      

from collapsed lungs

just so that

we can

breathe!  

Third-Place in Poetry

Picasso Dreams Broken Glass

      In response to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol (2021)

Thrust down with a fumbling hand

in the light of the slumberous moon

crashing into the crater in my chest

all that pain of after death, the broken glass,

the splintering cries of those who gather by the gate

& wonder where to go & who to see

& ask if there’s a place for their guns

or something organic to eat,

but why cast onto me

this surreal art of disharmony:

jumbling discordant shards,

the jagged insurrections of clouds

& murders by crowds,

& those who rage, their fire snuffed out

by wet whimpers

& so they drown in grief,

but why pursue me, as though I

could decode this absurd collage,

take on the lake-effect breeze

of a dense fog that steeps

in a mind that cannot sleep,

much less dream of rainbowed gardens.

Why seek me to recast their shattered sorrow,

scattered chaotic clutter,

their Felliniesque costumes?

I don’t know the half of it.

Estate Sale
Healing · Memoir · My Father · October Hill Magazine · Poem · Publication · Writing

Estate Sale

extraordinarysunshineweaver4 Comments

I have a new publication in October Hill Magazine, Spring Issue, page 92. The title of the poem is “Estate Sale”. You can also read the poem here, (but the format is not correct. I don’t know how to fix it.)

https://www.octoberhillmagazine.com/archives

Estate Sale 

“When someone is missing, their possessions take on meanings.” 

– Claudia Emerson (1957-2014)

How the day lays the gray fog into rain
That presses on fallen leaves with bent stems.

Am I ready to sweep them into bags –
Gently used jackets, old woven mittens?

Tell me who needs this apparel of trees

One leaf still clings, my father, not yet braced

To give up his old toys, schoolbooks, first gun.

He wrote a memoir that ended with me.

Perhaps he thought I would know my story,

Or he didn’t want to get it all wrong.

A sole leaf still being written on bark,

He cleaves to the long branch of his mother.

An ancient oak, pruned to keep her health up,

She cannot stretch her limbs out to the clouds.

Instead, her girth grows thick, her stature short,

A broad support for plumage & branches,

To which father maintains a firm handhold.

I gather their china, albums, & garlands.

I wash her face & dress her in twinkling lights. 

Father lets go as I head to the sale.   

 

Memoirs of Denise Fletcher
Audio · Call for Submissions · Healing · Memoir · Podcasts · Poetry · Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul · Prose · Publication · Writing

Memoirs of Denise Fletcher

extraordinarysunshineweaverLeave a comment

Hello, my friends,

I’ve been away too long! This year has been challenging as you must know. However, I am getting back into my soul work. Here is my latest episode. The theme is mental health, and Denise shares her journey of recovery with a lot of great advice and links.

Memoirs of Denise Fletcher (podbean.com)

This episode highlights the memoirs and concerns of the poet and blogger, Denise Fletcher. Check out her author page on Amazon.com and her amazing blog.

Denise Fletcher is a freelance writer and artist. Her creative works have appeared in Bards Against Hunger, Kaleidoscope Magazine and numerous publications in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

Blog: Poetry Curator, poetrycurator2020.blogspot.com

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0084KZMCE

Her book, Thread of Hope, can be found in the link below, and she returns all the profits to aid in causes related to mental illness. The book “explores the boundaries of the mental health system”. It includes “semi-autobiographical poetry, prose, and art which demonstrates the healing power of creativity and spirituality” in mental health recovery.

To access a free copy of Thread of Hope and other free books and materials:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bvXlCPAmVR-1fk03GqB-K86C4k1UwBmK

Mental Health and Wellness Resources Recommended by Denise Fletcher https://poetrycurator2020.blogspot.com/p/wellness.html

Home

https://allthesoftplaces.wordpress.com/2012/08/24/living-with-pain-feeling-through-pain-tips-on-healing-and-self-care/

Depression-free for Life: A Physician’s All-Natural, 5-Step Plan

by Gabriel Cousens https://www.amazon.com/Depression-free-Life-Physicians-All-Natural-5-Step/dp/0060959657

Other Links

CDC Mental Health and Coping During COVID-19

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/managing-stress-anxiety.html

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill:  https://nami.org/

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Home

1-800-273-8255

Barbara Harris Leonhard is a writer, poet, and blogger. Her work appears in Phoebe, MD: Medicine and Poetry, Well Versed 2020, Spillwords; FREE VERSE REVOLUTION; Heretics, Lovers and Madmen; Go Dog Go Café; Silver Birch Press; Amethyst Review; Pillbaby.com; and Vita Brevis. She is the author of Discoveries in Academic Writing, which is based on her years of teaching English as a Second Language at the University of Missouri.

Blog: extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog

Podcast: meelosmom.podbean.com

To submit your poetic memoirs and concerns to this podcast, follow this link for the submission guidelines.

https://extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog/2020/07/31/call-for-submissions-to-poetry-the-memoir-of-the-soul/

Memoirs of Susi Bocks
Audio · Call for Submissions · Essays · Healing · Memoir · Podcasts · Poetry · Prose · Publication · Writing

Memoirs of Susi Bocks

extraordinarysunshineweaver10 Comments

I have a new poetry podcast on the Memoirs, of Susi Bocks. You can find it here – https://meelosmom.podbean.com/e/memoirs-of-susi-bocks/

This episode features the memoirs of Susi Bocks, who courageously shares her painful upbringing by a dysfunctional and abusive mother. Grief and anger hide in wait for illumination when Susi’s heart opens to reveal her self-worth, which was so beaten down over the years. Susi shows us that we can come to terms with our past and overcome parental abuse, which often results from transgenerational trauma.

Susi Bocks, writer/author/poet, has self-published two books: Feeling Human and Every Day I Pause. You can find her work at IWriteHer.com or follow her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MyHumanityInWrittenForm/, where she invites you to read her thoughts and get to know her. Bocks’ work has been published in the anthology SMITTEN: This Is What Love Looks Like: Poetry by Women for Women and in VitaBrevis, Spillwords, Literary Yard, as well as other literary magazines.

Editor-in-Chief: The Short of It

Website: IWriteHer.com

Links: Transgenerational Trauma and Epigenetics   

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-me-in-we/201205/how-trauma-is-carried-across-generations

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190326-what-is-epigenetics

Healing Generational Trauma

Barbara Harris Leonhard is a writer, poet, and blogger. Her work appears in Phoebe, MD: Medicine and Poetry, Well Versed 2020, Spillwords; FREE VERSE REVOLUTION; Heretics, Lovers and Madmen; Go Dog Go Café; Silver Birch Press; Amethyst Review; Pillbaby.com; and Vita Brevis. She is the author of Discoveries in Academic Writing, which is based on her years of teaching English as a Second Language at the University of Missouri.

Blog: extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog

Podcast: meelosmom.podbean.com

To submit your poetic memoirs and concerns to this podcast, follow this link for the submission guidelines.

https://extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog/2020/07/31/call-for-submissions-to-poetry-the-memoir-of-the-soul/

Music for this episode: “Relaxing Afternoon”, royalty free music on Podbean

Memoirs of Ivor Steven
Audio · Go Dog Go Cafe · Healing · Memoir · Podcasts · Poetry · Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul · Publication · Writing

Memoirs of Ivor Steven

extraordinarysunshineweaver10 Comments


I have uploaded an episode featuring Ivor Steven to my poetry podcast, Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul. You can access it here.

https://meelosmom.podbean.com/e/memoirs-of-ivor-steven/

In this episode, I feature the memoirs of Ivor Steven, who writes of his loss of his wife to Multiple Sclerosis. His poems reveal raw and touching grief.

Ivor Steven formerly worked as an industrial chemist and a plumber. He is now retired. He has had numerous poems published in on-line magazines such as Vita Brevis, Spillwords, Drabble, Wolff Poetry Journal, Festival of Poetry, Slasher Monster Magazine, and Fae Corps Publishing. Recently he was appointed to the “Go Dog Go Café” magazine’s website team of Baristas. He is also an active member of the Geelong Writers Inc. and many of his poems are published in their anthologies. He started writing 19 years ago to help with his recovery from a stroke.  During this time, and for the 30 years of his wife’s severe MS illness, Ivor was also his wife’s primary caregiver. 

He produces his own poetry chapbooks, each of which contains 40-45 poems. The series of chapbooks is called “Tullawalla”, (+ Title). He has created ‘nineteen’ of these chapbooks. He sells them through his website, local cafes, Geelong Writers groups, and the Geelong MS charity shop. All the money raised is donated to the MS Society.

Websites:  http://ivors20.wordpress.com and godoggocafe.com

Instagram:  ivors20

Link: https://www.nationalmssociety.org/What-is-MS

Music: “I Will Be There” from the royalty free selections on Podbean

Barbara Harris Leonhard is a writer, poet, and blogger. Her work appears in Phoebe, MD: Medicine and Poetry, Well Versed 2020, Spillwords; FREE VERSE REVOLUTION; Heretics, Lovers and Madmen; Go Dog Go Café; Silver Birch Press; Amethyst Review; Pillbaby.com; and Vita Brevis. She is the author of Discoveries in Academic Writing, which is based on her years of teaching English as a Second Language at the University of Missouri.

Blog: extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog

Podcast: meelosmom.podbean.com

To submit your poetic memoirs and concerns to this podcast, follow this link for the submission guidelines.

https://extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog/2020/07/31/call-for-submissions-to-poetry-the-memoir-of-the-soul/

Memoirs of Walter Bargen, Missouri’s First Poet Laureate
Audio · Memoir · Poetry · Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul · Prose · Publication · Writing

Memoirs of Walter Bargen, Missouri’s First Poet Laureate

extraordinarysunshineweaver2 Comments

Call for Submissions to Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul
Audio · Call for Submissions · Memoir · Poetry · Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul · Prose · Writing

Call for Submissions to Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul

extraordinarysunshineweaver3 Comments

What is Your Story?

Fellow poets,

I would like to do a series of podcast episodes on your memoirs for my poetry podcast, Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul, which is found here.

https://meelosmom.podbean.com/

Do you have a … 1) personal life experience or 2) a concern about life today that you can describe in one or two paragraphs followed by an original poem on the topic or experience? Word length for the exposition and poem: under 1000 words.

The submission can be new, from a prior blog post, or from a book of yours you would like to promote. You maintain the copyright for the work.

All submissions must be your original work. If you use a reference in the exposition part, please cite the source and provide a link that I can list in the episode sources.

I might do some minor editing to aid oral delivery.

If you haven’t submitted to my podcast yet, please include an image and a short BIO with links to sites you would like to promote or provide for contact purposes, such as blogs, Facebook, your website, etc.  I would also like to promote your works, so provide titles of publications and places where we can acquire your books. I will include this information in the content summary of the podcast.

Please email submissions to meelosmom@gmail.com. You may paste the submission into the email or attach a Word document saved with your last name and the title of your submission.

In addition to informing you at the time I publish the podcast episode, I will post the episode link on WordPress, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Feel free to share this call for submissions with other poets. This is an open call for submissions as I would like to continue with several episodes. 

Mail submissions to…..
meelosmom@gmail.com

I am looking forward to reading your memoirs.
Barbara Leonhard

Image: ©Dierik Leonhard