Category: Memoir
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Reviews by Lauren Scott
Life is generous. I thought I found these reviews Lauren Scott wrote for the first time this evening while exploring people’s blogs. Then I saw that I had already commented. I don’t think I reblogged this post. However, I appreciated her review of my first poetry collection, Three-Penny Memories: A…
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World Encephalitis Day: February 22, 2025
Encephalitis is a brain inflammation that can accompany viral infections, such as measles. There are different forms of encephalitis, but my experience was with measles encephalitis in 1958, when I was 6 going on 7. A few days after contracting measles, my legs gave out, and I lost my ability…
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My poem “My Memoir as a Doll” was translated into Chinese by the scholar Yongbo Ma!
“My Memoir as a Doll” is a poem in my book Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir. I wrote it to express how I felt as a child paralyzed by measles encephalitis in the summer of 1958. I was six going on seven when my legs gave out one day. I…
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A Busy Time!
I am so grateful for some recent publications. Lothlorien Poetry Journal published three poems, which happen to be from my book, Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir. Mother’s Light”, “Bearing the World,” and “Ode to the Embryo that My T-Shaped Uterus Miscarried”. Thank you, Editor Strider Marcus Jones! https://lothlorienpoetryjournal.blogspot.com/search?q=Three+Poems+by+Barbara+Leonhard Chewers by…
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In the Midst of Hate….
Since the 2024 election results, I’ve been grieving about how divided our country is and how misled by fear we are. I’m sorting through my emotions, looking for hope. I cannot tolerate the Trump policies. I don’t want to summarize them here because I am certain you are informed. In…
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“Spooked” is up on Spillwords!
Thank you, Dagmara K, for publishing this memoir poem on Spillwords! This haunting happened to me in my maternal grandparents’ house when I was 15 years old. I was visiting them that summer. At that time, my grandfather, BT (which he preferred to be called), had remarried. His second wife’s…
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World Alzheimer’s Day- September 21
When I told my uncle that Mom was moving close to me so that I could help her as she had health issues, my uncle asked me, “Do you love your mother?” His question sent me into a tailspin. I sought grief therapy to dig into the key life events…
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My Poem “The Emperor’s Dragon” was translated into Chinese by Yongbo Ma!
I’m beyond delighted that Yongbo Ma, a Chinese scholar, is translating some of my poems into Chinese. He translated “The Caregiver’s Craft”, which is from my book Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir and now “The Emperor’s Dragon”, which is about my trip to China in 2009. The Emperor’s Dragon Upon…
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My Gratitude for the Best of the Net Nomination for 2025!
Thank you Michelle Ayon Navajas for nominating my mythic poem “The Battle of Lake Michigan” for Best of the Net 2025! I’m truly honored and humbled to be included among these amazing nominees. Read on for the reblog of the nominations made by Michelle Ayon Navajas (Editor of Hotel Masticadores…
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My Measles Encephalitis Survival Story is in The Washington Post
Encephalitis International contacted me about sharing my measles encephalitis survival story to help advocate for the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) Vaccine. Lena Sun, who is with The Washington Post, interviewed me, and the story came out today, July 7, 2024. She’s written other Washington Post articles about measles, and I…
Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver 