Issue I: hebe (the fountain of youth) is now available for download! Get your copy of our first issue here. Our issues are free to download but if you wish to donate in receipt of your copy, you can use the Donate page. Currently, donations are used to pay for the domain and for the […]
Issue I: available for download — Free Verse Revolution:
I am pleased to share the first issue of Free Verse Revolution: A literary magazine. My poem “The New Girl” is on page 58.
Dark Poets Club (London, England) accepted three of my poems. Today they published “The Visitant”. Thank you, Dark Poets Club, for liking my work! (I put this poem up on my blog in the past. Dark Poets Club accepts poems from a blog because they feel poetry should be shared widely. Give them a try!)
https://www.darkpoets.club/post/the-visitant
12 days and it will be yours to read and enjoy! Below is a reminder of our incredible Issue I contributors: Donate
Release date for Issue I — Free Verse Revolution:
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
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
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.
Cymbidium I. He gifts her an orchid. Says, Three ice cubes a week So as not to drown it. Her joints sound of cracked ice As she gingerly accepts My lush pink blooms Of wet lips open For drink & good light. II. The house has no sun. Unpruned branches of wild flora Cluster close […]
Cymbidium – a poem by Barbara Harris Leonhard — Amethyst Review
Image by JacLou-DL from Pixabay
I kneel on the rocky shore of the river searching for myself. My image reflects off the shiny water. The glimmer of a familiar face in a tough time. But then, the wind picks up, ripples the waves, Splays my long hair into gray tendrils. In the riffle, one eye opens, one eye closes. My […]
(UPDATE: This poem is archived – the link no longer works – because FREE VERSE REVOLUTION has a new literary magazine. If you wish to access this link, let me know.)
Awash into a Broken Mirror – Barbara Leonhard — FREE VERSE REVOLUTION
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
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.
Music for this episode: “Relaxing Afternoon”, royalty free music on Podbean
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.
I have uploaded an episode featuring Walter Bargen to my poetry podcast, Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul. You can access it here.
https://meelosmom.podbean.com/e/memoirs-of-walter-bargen/
This episode features poems by Walter Bargen, who is Missouri’s first poet laureate. I read from Days Like This Are Necessary: New & Selected Poems, Trouble Behind Glass Doors, and Pole Dancing in the Nightclub of God.
Walter Bargen has published 24 books of poetry. Recent books include: Days Like This Are Necessary: New & Selected Poems (BkMk Press, 2009), Trouble Behind Glass Doors (BkMk Press, 2013), Perishable Kingdoms (Grito del Lobo Press, 2017), Too Quick for the Living (Moon City Press, 2017), My Other Mother’s Red Mercedes (Lamar University Press, 2018), Until Next Time (Singing Bone Press, 2019), and Pole Dancing in the Night Club of God (Red Mountain Press, 2020).
Bargen’s books are available on amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and bookshops.
His awards include a National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship (1991), Quarter After Eight Prose Prize (1996), the Hanks Prize (1996), the Chester H. Jones Foundation prize (1997), the William Rockhill Nelson Award (2005), Short Fiction Award– A cappella Zoo (2011).
His poems, essays, and stories have appeared in over 300 magazines, including American Literary Review, American Letters & Commentary, Beloit Poetry Journal, Denver Quarterly, Georgia Review, International Quarterly, Missouri Review, New Letters, New Novel Review, Pleiades, Poetry Northwest, River Styx, Seneca Review, Sycamore Review, and Witness.
LINKS
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/walter-bargen
Hear Walter Bargen read his work on Paul Pepper’s shows. You will see additional links to other shows, as well.
https://www.kbia.org/post/paul-pepper-authorpoet-walter-bargen-todays-farmer-magazine#stream/0
“Superior Waters”
“A Different Prayer”
“Brotherhood” and “The Great Moon Hoax”
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
To submit your poetic memoirs and concerns to this podcast, follow this link for the submission guidelines.
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!
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:
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
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/the-power-of-positive-thinking
