Category: Memoir

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

extraordinarysunshineweaverLeave a comment

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 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 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

 

Podcast: Grief and Healing
artisticflarings.blog · Audio · Healing · Martha's Artistic Flarings · Memoir · Podcasts · Poetry · Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul · Publication · Writing

Podcast: Grief and Healing

extraordinarysunshineweaverLeave a comment

I just published a new podcast episode which explores the grief and loss we are experiencing mainly due to the current pandemic and social upheaval. Our wellness is at stake, and those with pre-existing conditions are vulnerable. How can we maintain good health and navigate our grief when we experience loss of loved ones and disruptions in our daily life? Poetry can help us nurture compassion and heal on our sacred journeys.

https://meelosmom.podbean.com/e/grief-and-healing-1596140188/

I hope you listen, like, and share the link. My gratitude!

Contributors

Image: “New Day” ©Martha Harris, Martha’s Artistic Flarings, artisticflarings.blog

Clarissa Simmens is an Independent poet; Romani drabarni (herbalist/advisor); ukulele and guitar player; wannabe song writer; and music addict. Favorite music genres include Classic Rock, Folk, Romani (Gypsy), and Cajun with an emphasis on guitar and violin music mainly in a Minor key.

Facebook: facebook.com/RomaniGypsyBooks

WordPress: poeturja.wordpress.com

Amazon Author Page: t.co/JSvNROn15t (self-published)

Cynthia Cady Stanton is a hospice chaplain, bereavement specialist, speaker, poet and writer. She is a regular contributor to Phoebe. MD: Medicine + Poetry (https://phoebemd.com/).

Website: cynthiacadystanton.com

Blog: becomingandbeholding.blog

LinkedIn: linkedin.cynthia-cady-stanton-3599b823

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

Laura Kelly Fanucci, Instagram: @thismessygrace

I found her poem “When This is Over” here:

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/04/10/podcast-meet-catholic-author-behind-coronavirus-poem-went-viral

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 (pending); 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

Sources:

https://www.newsweek.com/person-their-30s-dies-after-attending-covid-party-thought-it-was-hoax-health-officials-1517172

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/coronavirus/2020/07/08/Coronavirus-Weeks-after-husband-s-funeral-widow-dies-herself-from-COVID-19)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/anger-control-protests-masks-coronavirus/2020/06/29/a1e882d0-b279-11ea-8758-bfd1d045525a_story.html

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/the-power-of-positive-thinking

 

 

 

Feeling ‘Hangry?’ – Hypoglycemia, Mental Health, and the Importance of Diet
Essays · Healing · Memoir · Phoebe, MD: Medicine + Poetry · Publication · Writing

Feeling ‘Hangry?’ – Hypoglycemia, Mental Health, and the Importance of Diet

extraordinarysunshineweaver4 Comments

Phoebe, MD: Medicine + Poetry published my article on hypoglycemia and depression. Have you ever felt “hangry” (so suddenly hungry that you could push other diners away just to get to the head of the line at the buffet)? If so, you may have Hypoglycemia. Your blood sugar has spiked and dropped below normal levels. Here is my story.

Phoebe, MD: Medicine + Poetry

By Barbara Leonhard | Featured Contributor

Depression is a complex weave, and I have explored it in various articles on Phoebe, MD. The grief of watching my mom decline with Alzheimer’s and the grief of infertility. However, did you know that some symptoms of depression can also result from a diet high in sugar and simple carbohydrates, which in some people can lead to postprandial hypoglycemia (extremely low blood sugar after a meal)? This has been another life challenge for me.

View original post 1,702 more words

Lost on Maroon Bells Trail by Barbara Leonhard (LANDMARKS Series)
Memoir · Publication · Silver Birch Press · Writing

Lost on Maroon Bells Trail by Barbara Leonhard (LANDMARKS Series)

extraordinarysunshineweaver2 Comments

Thank you, Silver Birch Press, for publishing my poem for your LANDMARKS series! I’m grateful I returned from this trip! Getting lost on the mountains is no fun.

The day before, we had hiked for 8 hours to Maroon Bells Lake and camped over night. The next day, we were heading out for another long hike back to the trail head. I think we were an hour away from our car when I took the wrong turn.

Silver Birch Press

Maroon BellsLost on Maroon Bells Trail
by Barbara Leonhard

I.
The Maroon Bells chime,
So long, dear. May you dance
& sway with the breeze
In our floral meadows.
Do you know the edibles?
The wind ruffles my hair as I hike out.
II.
An old man limps from around a bend.
I take his course, turning right,
Not left. The path narrows,
But well-marked steps
Pin me to a destination
Down a steep hill on my behind.
The old guy did this?
I call for my husband, who had run ahead.
III.
A clearing opens, & prior travelers
show no sense of direction.
Their prints scatter like whitetail deer
Fleeing the hungry cougar.
I call for my husband over & over
& look for his shoe size.
IV.
He runs back to check on his mate,
But the two stragglers far behind her
had surpassed her stride.
She can outpace…

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Podcast: Grief and Racism Unmasked
Audio · Healing · Memoir · Podcasts · Poetry · Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul · Prose · Writing

Podcast: Grief and Racism Unmasked

extraordinarysunshineweaver2 Comments

I finally have a new episode up on my poetry podcast, Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul. Even though I have gotten some poems published, I lost my focus and momentum with the podcasts because I felt waylaid by COVID-19.

https://meelosmom.podbean.com/e/grief-and-race-unmasked/

In this podcast, produced on Juneteeth, (June 19th), 2020, I recognize and honor the grief of African Americans, especially in light of current events with the murder of George Floyd and other African Americans by police. Racial discrimination is as lethal as another contagion we are fighting at present with COVID-19. Unless we turn to love and compassion, how can we heal? I selected poems that express different aspects of racial discrimination against Black citizens.

Poets read today: Phillis Wheatley, Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes, Rita Dove, Priscilla Jane Thompson. Their works read today were found on these sites:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/

https://poets.org/

https://www.best-poems.net/

Juneteenth (Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, and Cel-Liberation Day)

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/how-juneteenth-s-history-being-reshaped-america-reckons-its-past-n1231510

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/10-facts-juneteenth

Racial Disparities in Our Medical System

https://time.com/5855756/covid-19-racial-injustice-health/

Ahmaud Arbery

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/suspects-struck-ahmaud-arbery-vehicle-shot-dead-yelled-191300630–abc-news-topstories.html

George Floyd

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html

Rayshard Brooks

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/garrett-rolfe-charges-rayshard-brooks-video-cop-kick-death-a9572141.html

https://www.foxnews.com/us/rayshard-brooks-atlanta-officer-garrett-rolfe-murder-charges-death-penalty-eligible

The image for this podcast was found on harpersbazaar.com, “Here’s How You Can Demand Justice for George Floyd”, by Chelsey Sanchez, May 28, 2020.

Memoirs
Memoir · Poet’s Notebook · Poetry Curator · Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul · Publication · Writing

Memoirs

extraordinarysunshineweaver9 Comments

My poem Memoirs was published by Poetry Curator on Poet’s Notebook. It’s a beautiful site with many features and even gifts for readers. I downloaded some free PDFs. Denise Fletcher, who publishes the blogspot site, is very nice. Thank you, Denise!

https://poetrycurator2020.blogspot.com/2020/06/memoirs.html

Image: pexels.com

New Look for Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul
artisticflarings.blog · Audio · Healing · Martha's Artistic Flarings · Memoir · Podcasts · Poem · Poetry · Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul · Prose · Writing

New Look for Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul

extraordinarysunshineweaver6 Comments

I notice that I haven’t completed a poetry podcast since April 2. However, as you can see on my WordPress blog, I have done some publishing. It seemed easier to publish in on line sites than on my own poetry podcast in my own voice. I have to admit, everything of late has stunned me. I have lost focus to some degree when it comes to the intimacy in my podcasts.

Meanwhile, Podbean informed me my site design would not be supported, so I have  chosen a new theme.  Simple and clean.  Kind of like life could be at this time…at least in an ideal world.     https://meelosmom.podbean.com/

What the heck happened? What have we become? I was once a young girl riding my bike and playing with dolls. Now I’m hiding from a pandemic and bullets.

Does this pandemic represent our diseased minds and hearts? COVID-19 has forced us to retreat to the silence of our souls, our heart minds. Can we stand to be with ourselves? Can we cultivate our beautiful garden? Or can we only find comfort in noise (distractions, addictions, possessions). Can we truly see ourselves, love ourselves? Can we truly see and love others? And what about the Other, those who are from different tribes (families, societies, races, cultures).

What is hidden eventually rises for healing as is shown in the response to the murder of George Floyd at the knee of a cop. Racism, social inequities, corporate greed, and other forms of social, economic, and ethical/ moral malaise are symptomatic of another pandemic hidden in our Deep. George Floyd was strangled to death for passing a fake bill, but what about white-collar crime and all the money doled out to corporations while the average American can’t put food in the table with one job? With this pandemic, we suffer from huge losses in income. Our economy is flailing.

Everything that happens daily becomes the memoir of our society and our world. It’s all recorded not just on film (owing to technology) but also in our DNA. The ugly can make us ill. As Caroline Myss writes, “Our biography becomes our biology.”

I want to avert my eyes and deny all that is aberrant. However, I’m simply storing it away, like I do old journals, letters, and photos. Some things trigger joy, while others uproot pain. I think that if I don’t see it, it isn’t there, but it is creating illness.

It’s no coincidence I have taken to memoir writing, exploring my Deep. What have I buried from view? What do I need to heal? Looking at the truth is visceral and, I am told, bold maybe even courageous and healing. However, it is also dangerous. Being truthful to our word can create loss. These kinds of shifts occur because ‘all that is not aligned will fall away’. 

I have feared excavating my soul because of judgment and fear of alienation and abandonment, but I see my life from my lens while others, especially members of my tribe, have their perspectives, which they can explore in their own memoirs.

I hope to continue to explore these themes in my poetry podcast and other wetting, and see my morning awaken, as the featured image of this post shows.
https://meelosmom.podbean.com/

©Barbara Leonhard, extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog

Image “Morning Awakening” ©Martha Harris, Martha’s Artistic Flarings, artisticflarings.blog

 

Broken Womb, Shattered Soul: Living with Infertility (part 2)
Healing · Memoir · Phoebe, MD: Medicine + Poetry · Poem · Poetry · Publication

Broken Womb, Shattered Soul: Living with Infertility (part 2)

extraordinarysunshineweaverLeave a comment

Thank you, Phoebe! I hope my story continues to help others who have had to deal with infertility.

Phoebe, MD: Medicine + Poetry

By Barbara Leonhard | Featured Contributor

[Click here for Part 1]

Depression developed and flourished because I grieved so much over loss of fertility.

Women who are childless miss out on a great deal. They never feel what it is like to have a life growing, kicking and wiggling inside of them; to cry out during the birth of a baby (a rite of passage to celebrate with girlfriends); to watch over and even to grow with a child through sickness and health, all the milestones of birthdays, graduations, marriage, and the births of grandchildren. I have even grieved not being able to be the tooth fairy, help my kids find Easter eggs, read them bedtime stories, take them to the zoo.

Feeling apart from and not a part of the tribe still saddens me. I find I am left out of conversations about all those life passages women…

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Betrayed – Barbara Leonhard
Free Verse Revolution · Memoir · My Screaming Twenties · Poem · Poetry · Publication

Betrayed – Barbara Leonhard

extraordinarysunshineweaver5 Comments

Thank you, FREE VERSE REVOLUTION!

Image: The fake 100-dollar bill printed by the United States of Halloween. I found this treasure folded up on grass along a pathway I was walking on and trying to clean up just to be a good citizen. I felt pretty excited and told everyone I had found 100 dollars! Well, upon closer examination of the bill, I found it was just paper. I was so disappointed and, of course, embarrassed that I hadn’t been more discerning in my excitement. The whole incident reminded me of love gone wrong out of in-authenticity.

FREE VERSE REVOLUTION

When I first found you,

I thought you were the real deal,

Handsome and of means.

Your mystery, promises

Of jewelry and charitable contributions,

Maybe even a luscious meal with fine wine.

Your credentials, superb at first glance.

How no one had found you before

Is beyond me, but there you were,

Out there where all could see

And in my grasp.

I felt blessed for my good works,

My generous nature, attracting value.

I kept you hidden, my treasure!

How I bragged about my new love!

Friends and family celebrated this bond –

No one had ever found such a prize

Just by chance! –

Until I discovered your true worth

Upon scrutiny as it unfolded!

Your heart, counterfeit;

Our love, a sham!

How duped I was by your smile.

Those eyes, your vivid presence;

Your charisma, regal!

Your sources, trusted!

Your history, infallible!

My dreams, blind, hopeful the…

View original post 217 more words

New Publication: My Hair Eats Everything
Memoir · Poem · Poetry · Publication · Spillwords · Writing

New Publication: My Hair Eats Everything

extraordinarysunshineweaver6 Comments

I’m delighted Spillwords Press published one of my poems.

My Hair Eats Everything

 

My Hair Eats Everything

Silver pelage. Static cling

Velcro mouth gulping my life.

My hair, a pantry of my days.

Famished patron of my past.

It shows in my sheen, the shine

Of a clean plate.

 

Baby hair matted with egg,

Pureed peas, sour milk, spaghetti sauce,

Bits of cereal. Mom’s cleansing spit

Over my crown. Kisses planted

In the soil of my hair. Luster of life

Grows into a hungry coif.

 

The long stems of flowers

Woven into braids. My first perfume,

Splashes of hot lavender baths,

Swashes of wet polish, and Dippity-Do

Cling to my curls and create a crown

Of a complex banquet.

 

Grandpa’s musty garage, his yard

Of lake breeze. The smell of sand

Tangles my hair into my mouth.

The steam of Grandma’s fried sausage, rising dough,

Stewed chicken, spilled honey from toast,

Dad’s Old Spice snared by my hair.

 

Sweat from the Ex’s hands

His bad breath on my frizz.

Bloody spittle of squabble,

His ashtray, blight of air,

Day-old wine and stale beer

Linger on my dead ends

 

Mother’s ambrosia steeps

My life, the whiff of her red lipstick,

Her aromatic apron, her savory hugs,

Her last breath as I held the phone

To her ear for goodbyes. The anguish

Of her affliction infuses me.

 

My hair swells fragrance

Of holy spring rain. Tiny fingers of new leaves

Sniff of pin oak to my roots. Sticky juice

Of tomato vines cling to my gray locks

As I reach for the fruit. Strands of silver

Extend from cloud. The scent of sun.

 

©Barbara Leonhard

extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog

Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul (meelosmom.podbean.com)

my featured image by ivanovgood, pixabay.com