I’ve been nominated for Author of the Month at Spillwords! I guess writing poetry while hiding away for almost two years has paid off. May I have your support? To vote, simply click on the link. To vote, you have to register or log in. Voting ends on October 29, 2021.
Thank you all for your support! You’re the best!
Featured Image: pixels.com
Featuring 54 fantastic creators and writers, Issue III: hestia (hearth & home) will be released on Saturday, 25th September. The issue will be free …
Coming 25th September
I have two poems in this upcoming issue of Free Verse Revolution: A literary magazine. The poems are from my as yet unpublished collection of memoir poems about me and my mother, who passed from Alzheimer’s in 2016. One poem is “Hestia for Hire”, which is about my last visit with my parents before my dad died and the deterioration of Mom’s health and behavior. The other poem is “Mermother: A Rogue Dream Poem” (after Melanie Figg). In a rogue dream poem, one dream interrupts another and the end of the poem shows the real outcome. I see my mother in one dream state on a ship and I am trying to protect her in a storm. In another dream she is a mermaid. I am her octopus friend. I also see us shopping and having fun in another dream. The outcome is my loss of her.
I hope you will enjoy the issue. The editor, Kristiana Reed announced the line up of contributors a few days ago. I am humbled to be among these writers. Thank you, Kristiana!
My collection of memoir poems I mentioned is out searching for a publisher! I submitted to some contests just to take a few risks. You saw another poem from this collection, “Cooking a Life with a Wire Spine”, which was published in Spillwords as a featured poem on their main page in August, and it was nominated for publication of the month. It didn’t win. Another poem from the collection will be published by Anti-Heroin Chic next month.
I owe a great deal to the Free Verse Revolution blog (now archived) and new literary magazine. Their positive response to my poetry has encouraged me to grow as a poet and aim high. This means writing my own poetry collection and finding success with other publishers. I am truly grateful.
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.
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! 🍾🍾🍾
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.
Dear Friends, most of us would agree that this past year has been extremely challenging if not tragic. Many of you have documented your pain and grief in poetry, fiction, and essays. St. Patrick’s Day is on Wednesday and Easter is coming up, so it’s a good time for us to transmute our sorrow and fear into blessings. It’s spring, a time of rebirth as we see the daffodils blooming. Although daffodils are sometimes pelted by one last snowfall, they are resilient. Indeed, spring is full of promise as four-leaf clovers await our search for good health and fortune. The fourth leaf, luck, adds to the trinity, so even if we fail to find the four-leaf clover, we are truly never alone. With love, I offer this blessing.
May you be blessed.
May good luck follow you always.
May you be healthy and thus wealthy.
May your heart be filled with grace
not grief.
May your home be filled with love,
not languor.
May your days be filled with mystery,
not misery.
May your back never bend in storm.
May friends and family gather at last
in your welcoming arms.
Feature Image: by artistlike on pixabay.com
Image of the daffodil: by MrGajowy3 on pixabay
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:
We hope you are as excited as we are about the release of Issue I: hebe (the fountain of youth)! To tease you a little further, below are the incredible writers, artists and photographers whose work will be featured in our first issue. The cover reveal will be released this Sunday coming at 2pm GMT. […]
Issue I: contributors — Free Verse Revolution:
I am excited to be able to contribute to the launch of a new literary magazine!
To all my peeps… some of my poetry and art for the new year! Happy New Year! May 2021 lift us to new heights! To soar!
May 2021 lift you out of depleted soil.
To soar. To soar in sun.
Free. Free in sheer air,
Where you dream. Dream.
Not despair,
Not dread.
Not drown in storm.
May you rise. Rise.
Rise!
Collage art and poem by Barbara Leonhard extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog
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.
