Category: Writing

Songs for Dusk and Dawn
Ekphrastic Poetry · Healing · Mother Earth · Original Collages · Writing

Songs for Dusk and Dawn

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SINGING with the SETTING SUN

Release into Dreams

As you set between the branches of the oak tree, may I see clearly how the day now dips its head, like a sunflower nodding asleep under your gaze. I give you, the setting fire, all that no longer serves me. May it melt into orange light behind the trees and hills. I have lived a full day with some unrest, pain, grief, ungrounded thinking. I give you my worry, doubt, fear, for my body can no longer support them. I lean toward you, the setting sun, with my palms open to release all ills, like tiny birds to a new sky.

Gratitude

As the sun rests, so may I with a grateful heart. As I enter into night rest, I express my gratitude for a full day. Thank you for the lessons learned and the gifts bestowed. The blessings given. For all toil and all triumph, I am grateful. For all guidance, I am grateful. For all insights and gifts, I am grateful. For wisdom, I am grateful. That my heart has opened to joy, I am truly grateful. May I be a clear vessel of Your love as it flows to those requesting healing. May that warmth and strength sink into their beings as the sun sets into a cycle of renewal so that we may all reconnect in new light.

SINGING with the RISING SUN

Trust in a New Day

As the sun rises, my heart is a sunflower, opening its eyes to the East. How the sun rises in color just as it sets. I am drawn to the warmth of its brilliance and promise of a new day. On this day, I will be strong, free of pain. I feel Mother Earth pulling grief down and out of my feet into her temple for healing. My dreams have gathered the worry and fear and now release these burdens into the arms of Mother Earth. How she transmutes this bundle into new gardens. If only I can see the potential in each seed and not hoard my bounty like a cache of hidden treasure. Letting go is the gold. Trusting. Surrendering to the rising light all about and within me.

©Barbara Leonhard, 2022

Featured Image: Dierik Leonhard

Second Image: May Peace Be with You (one of my collages)

Prometheus Amok – a Free Anthology
Writing

Prometheus Amok – a Free Anthology

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To celebrate National Poetry Month, which is in April, Denise Fletcher (Poetry Curator) compiled an anthology of some poetry submitted to her Blogspot site, Poets Notebook. When you open this link, you will find the place to download the free poetry anthology. Thank you, Denise, for including my poem ”Memoirs”.

https://poetsnotebook2022.blogspot.com/2022/02/prometheus-amok.html

Image: Pixabay

New Year’s Blessing
Ekphrastic Poetry · Poem · Poetry · Writing

New Year’s Blessing

extraordinarysunshineweaver4 Comments

The year 2021 has slipped into history,

the bright spots and shadows all melted away.

I see 2022 shaping up into something magical.

Different from any year. New, perfect, stunning in its design.

Magical, distinctive, one of a kind.

It will be fast, like this year, but every moment sublime.

We must hope for its sacred perfection,

the integrity of its design, cast at this moment to dream.

It will be what we dream.


Happy New Year, everyone!
May your new year be joyous, safe, healthy, magnificent!

(Photo, pixabay.com)

Healing · Memoir · Mother Earth · Publication · Silver Birch Press · Writing

Instituto Terra by Barbara Leonhard (HOW TO HEAL THE EARTH Series)

extraordinarysunshineweaver2 Comments
Painting: DEER IN THE FOREST by Franz Marc (1913).

Thank you, Silver Birch Press!

Instituto Terra by Barbara Leonhard “Nature is the earth and it is other beings and if we don’t have some kind of spiritual return to our planet, I …

Instituto Terra by Barbara Leonhard (HOW TO HEAL THE EARTH Series)
Spillwords’ Author of the Month!
Honors · Poetry · Spillwords · Writing

Spillwords’ Author of the Month!

extraordinarysunshineweaver12 Comments

I am so grateful to learn that I am Author of the Month at Spillwords. Thank you to all who voted. I am grateful to Dagmara K., Director of Development / Editing Department, and the editing staff for accepting my poems over the years. Spillwords has definitely played a pivotal role in my development as a poet. Thank you all for following me, for encouraging me, and for reading Spillwords.

The Author of the Month is featured in the right side bar daily. (I found a page with all the poems, my recent interview, and the recent honor all on one page.)

https://spillwords.com/?s=Barbara+Leonhard
Big News
Honors · Poetry · Recognition/ Honor · Spillwords · Writing

Big News

extraordinarysunshineweaver17 Comments

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!

https://spillwords.com/vote/

Featured Image: pixels.com

Free Verse Revolution · Publication · Writing

Coming 25th September

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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.

Poet Weaver
Free Verse Revolution · Healing · Honors · Memoir · Podcasts · Poetry · Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul · Writing

Poet Weaver

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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.

An Honor
Honors · Memoir · Poem · Publication · Recognition/ Honor · Spillwords · Writing

An Honor

extraordinarysunshineweaver4 Comments

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! 🍾🍾🍾

https://spillwords.com/vote/
Estate Sale
Healing · Memoir · My Father · October Hill Magazine · Poem · Publication · Writing

Estate Sale

extraordinarysunshineweaver4 Comments

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.