Category: Poem

The Unwelcome Tenant
artisticflarings.blog · Audio · Martha's Artistic Flarings · Original Digital Art · Poem · Writing

The Unwelcome Tenant

extraordinarysunshineweaver20 Comments

Today we are forced to sequester to prevent the spread of COVID-19. We realize how powerful we are when it comes to our wellness because we can make choices to prevent contagion by following the CDC guidelines and being loving to ourselves and thoughtful of others by wearing masks and gloves if we must be in public to get medicine and other necessities.

While sheltering, we can take care of ourselves by resting, drinking a lot of water, and eating healthy food. We do not accept the fate of this pandemic. Our positive thinking will boost our immune system. No one can take care of our temple but us. We hold the keys to the gate, and we do not welcome tenants who create chaos of our light.

I pray for a vaccine soon, and I hope everyone can and will get one. I know I definitely will.

My sister, Martha Harris, created this  amazing image of COVID-19 by layering several microscopic photos of the actual virus together. She calls the image “The Infection”. I think it is a masterpiece.

The Unwelcome Tenant

What is healing

but the stabbing to death of pain,

the banishment of shadows,

the release of sorrows,

the burning of poison arrows.

 

Healing requires arbitration and litigation,

for Illness takes possession,

the uninvited occupant in our temple.

It strips away a clean visage,

creates squalor and decay,

plants bramble in the garden,

makes infertile the soil,

evades eviction.

 

Illness commandeers the ego,

becomes its own soul.

This loathsome dweller deceives,

creates attachments,

becomes dependable,

appears useful,

provides false amenities,

orders demolition to the heart,

lays claim to property,

prosperity.

 

We are healers

who can vanquish this squatter

from sacred property

once we know our powers.

We the are the landlord

who owns the keys

and locks the gate.

 

We break this unholy contract

wrought by the wretched occupant

that creeps into our house

and garnishes our treasures.

 

Healing is evicting

that which does not serve,

does not align,

is unholy

to our divine.

©Barbara Leonhard, extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog

Image “The Infection” ©Martha Harris, Martha’s Artistic Flarings, artisticflarings.blog

Before Eden Fell
Audio · Mother Earth · My Mother · Phoebe, MD: Medicine + Poetry · Podcasts · Poem · Poetry

Before Eden Fell

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This poem is included in an article I wrote for Phoebe, MD: Medicine + Poetry (https://phoebemd.com/2020/03/12/fire-ice-the-faces-of-grief/).

The article is based on my poetry podcast Grief: Fire and Ice, which features this poem (https://meelosmom.podbean.com/e/grief-fire-and-ice/).

Before Eden Fell

We were all immortal,

our beauty, captured forever

in flora and fauna

so brilliant that light itself

had to blink twice

our true being stood naked

without shame

our reflection more lustrous

than knowing

brilliantine fabric

until the apple fell

into Mother’s soft hands

our Mother, the first to grieve

her garden lost

how she still clings to the maiden

the stunning beauty she once was

now deflowered, exposed to erosion

our Eden, our innocence and purity,

victim to change, to corruption, to decline,

our undoing

no one …. no thing is our eternity

our heaven forever

on this plane

nothing lasts

so we grieve

feeling abandoned by joy

and cast out of a divine place

though we cling to the fading innocence

of our Eden,

we bless grief

Written in Response to Robert Frost, “Nothing Gold Can Stay”

Nothing Gold Can Stay

BY ROBERT FROST

Nature’s first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf’s a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

**Poetry Foundation

My poem ends with, “We bless grief”. Why? I explain in my podcast. 😇

©2020 Barbara Harris Leonhard

extraordinarysunshineweaver.wordpress.com

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

Image: Pixabay

Erosion
Audio · My Mother · Phoebe, MD: Medicine + Poetry · Poem · Poetry · Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul · Writing

Erosion

extraordinarysunshineweaverLeave a comment

This poem is included in an article I wrote for Phoebe, MD: Medicine + Poetry (https://phoebemd.com/2020/03/16/alzheimers-grieving-the-loss-of-my-mother/).

The article is based on my poetry podcast Grief: Fire and Ice (https://meelosmom.podbean.com/e/grief-fire-and-ice/).

Erosion

A garden once planted in spring,

bearing life in shade and sun,

is now tangled with weeds and blight.

A hearty yield once sustained by dew and noon rains,

now forgets in autumn light.

Baskets of Gold, having bloomed and stretched for sun,

now shrivel, scorched by drought.

Honeysuckle, a trespasser in flora

that once nurtured monarchs and bees.

Wisdom of soils and seedlings,

now crumbles to dust.

Once a bounty of bliss, now wild bramble

on depleted soil.

Her secret garden.

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©2020 Barbara Harris Leonhard (Revision of The Garden of Thoughts)

extraordinarysunshineweaver.wordpress.com

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

Images: my end of summer garden

Revised from A Garden of Thoughts

Grace
Audio · Healing · My Mother · Phoebe, MD: Medicine + Poetry · Podcasts · Poem · Poetry · Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul

Grace

extraordinarysunshineweaver12 Comments

This poem is included in an article I wrote for Phoebe, MD: Medicine + Poetry (https://phoebemd.com/2020/03/21/grief-healing-through-poetry/).

The article is based on my poetry podcast Grief: Fire and Ice (https://meelosmom.podbean.com/e/grief-fire-and-ice/).

Grace

the leaves have fallen and stomped to dust

I am laid bare, exposed to wind

my limbs, brittle, still pleading

for a meal of sun

some days too short for food

nests lay bare as squirrels forage

the wind cools me to my roots

I am glass

holding on to my reflections

lest they be lost to twilight

Grace clothes me in a gown

meant for a bride embracing her heart

this pure finery sparkles as diamonds

on my icy bough

I rest with the Angel of Mercy

 

©2019 Barbara Harris Leonhard

extraordinarysunshineweaver.wordpress.com

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

Image: my yard

 

Alzheimer’s: Grieving the Loss of My Mother
Audio · Healing · My Mother · Phoebe, MD: Medicine + Poetry · Podcasts · Poem · Poetry · Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul · Prose · Writing

Alzheimer’s: Grieving the Loss of My Mother

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Phoebemd.com has published the second part of my article on my mother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s. You can access Part 1 via the link provided before the article starts.
These installments are based on my poetry podcast on this topic.
https://meelosmom.podbean.com/e/grief-fire-and-ice/
Please like, share, and follow. Others with loved ones who have Alzheimer’s may benefit from the information.

 

Phoebe, MD: Medicine + Poetry

By Barbara Leonhard

[This is the second segment of a 3-part series on Grief and Alzheimer’s. To read the first post, click here.]

As a way to examine grief and loss, I will share my story of the loss of my mother to Alzheimer’s, one of the most devastating forms of dementia.

What is Alzheimer’s?

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s Disease is a dementia caused by the building up of plaques—deposits of protein fragments that create spaces between neurons (nerve cells)—as well as tau tangles inside the cells of the brain itself.

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MOON ATE THE DARK CHALLENGE: MOON EATS THE DARK – BARBARA LEONHARD
braveandreckless.blog · Heretics, Lovers, and Madmen · Original Collage Art · Original Collages · Poem · Poetry · Writing

MOON ATE THE DARK CHALLENGE: MOON EATS THE DARK – BARBARA LEONHARD

extraordinarysunshineweaver2 Comments

This poem has been republished on hereticsloversmadmen.com. Check out the “seething brains” that “shape fantasies there”.

Heretics, Lovers, and Madmen

In a nest of owls,
I awaken bare, bleeding.
Talons pierce flesh.
Stabbing beaks shear old skin,
mincing fat and bone.

I am released into cloud.
Glossy wings unfurl.
I chase stars
and alight onto rays
of petrified time.

I scan marvel
as Moon eats the dark.
I feast on corolla
of sunflowers that sway in breeze
as Owl eats the light.

Image ‘Owl Eats Light’ by Barbara Leonhard

Barbara Leonhard publishes poetry on her WordPress blog, Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver. She is a regular contributor to FREE VERSE REVOLUTION and Go Dog Go Café. She started a poetry podcast on Podbean called Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul.

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Moon Ate the Dark Challenge: Moon Eats the Dark – Barbara Leonhard
braveandreckless.blog · Ekphrastic Poetry · Go Dog Go Cafe · Original Collages · Poem · Poetry · Recognition/ Honor · Writing

Moon Ate the Dark Challenge: Moon Eats the Dark – Barbara Leonhard

extraordinarysunshineweaverLeave a comment

I love Christina’s prompt! Moon Ate the Dark! I hope you enjoy my poem and original collage. Check out her site, braveandrecklessblog.com for more entries.

Poem and Collage: ©Barbara Leonhard

extraordianrysunshineweaver.blog
Check out my poetry podcast, Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul. Find it at meelosmom.podbean.com.

Brave & Reckless

In a nest of owls,
I awaken bare, bleeding.
Talons pierce flesh.
Stabbing beaks shear old skin,
mincing fat and bone.

I am released into cloud.
Glossy wings unfurl.
I chase stars
and alight onto rays
of petrified time.

I scan marvel
as Moon eats the dark.
I feast on corolla
of sunflowers that sway in breeze
as Owl eats the light.

Image ‘Owl Eats Light’ by Barbara Leonhard

Barbara Leonhard publishes poetry on her WordPress blog, Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver. She is a regular contributor to FREE VERSE REVOLUTION and Go Dog Go Café. She started a poetry podcast on Podbean called Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul.

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