Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver

  • MasticadoresUSA Themed Submission Call: Pets

    MasticadoresUSA Themed Submission Call: Pets

    If you would like to write about a pet, there is a no-fee submission call with MasticadoresUSA! Follow the link for details!

  • Sin-Eaters

    Sin-Eaters

    A sin-eater is someone paid to eat a small ritualistic meal representing the sins of the deceased. By doing so, the person takes on those sins. What happens to this diner? Does s/he become a vessel containing the sins of the departed, who can now enter heaven cleansed of wrongdoing?…

  • It’s All about Death, Really

    It’s All about Death, Really

    The gap between compassion and surrender is love’s darkest, deepest region. Orhan Pamuk, The Museum of InnocenceI am ready to shed the old clothes,the tatters that hang off my heart that I thought held some comfort but that no longer fit me.I lay them out for display. Touch each one,…

  • No-Fee Submission Calls

    As many of you know, I edit for MasticadoresUSA and FEED THE HOLY. MasticadoresUSA MasticadoresUSA is always open for no-fee submissions. I’m seeking poetry, fiction, short memoirs, book reviews, and interviews. I also like to publish book promotions. As Co-Poetry Bookshelf Editor for LatinosUSA, I can republish poetry book promos, giving authors greater…

  • I Am Contentious: How I Bully Myself

    Yesterday I posted on the dangers of bullying others. But how do I bully myself? Practicing Loving Kindness has helped me realize I am my own worst enemy. A few years ago, by allowing negative thoughts to tangle in my mind, I became depressed. Everything felt dark and threatening. I…

  • Bullies Kill

    Although I never found her channel, I was moved by the loss of a beautiful wife and mother who was a compassionate and empathic young woman. Her name was Mikayla Raines. She rescued foxes, and her YouTube channel was highly successful. But bullies drove her over the edge, her husband…

  • “Payne Comes for Tea”

    Nolcha Fox and I wrote this poem together. Our collaborations turned into Too Much Fun To Be Legal (Garden of Neuro Publishing, 2024). This feels like a good time for some light-hearted words.Payne Comes for TeaUninvited again.Slaps my ailing knee.“How’s it goin’?Not up and about yet?How ‘bout a jog around…

  • “The Bittersweet”: A World Traveler

    My gratitude to Irma Kurti for publishing her translation of my poem “The Bittersweet” into Albanian for Gazeta Destinacione. Follow this link to see her translation. https://gazetadestinacioni.al/barbara-harris-leonhard-shba-perktheu-irma-kurti/ The BittersweetA leaf dances in midairwithout falling.What holds it—A tiny threadof a spider’s weaving?Am I suspendedby my dizzy, twirling? Uncertainty and fear?Or is…

  • “Instituto Terra” is up on Chewers by Masticadores!

    “Instituto Terra” is up on Chewers by Masticadores!

    Thank you, Editor Nolcha Fox, for publishing my poem! Here is the note about the poem, which first appeared on Silver Birch Press. Because of our environmental crisis, I wanted to give this poem more visibility. The poem was inspired by the story of a couple in Brazil who regrew…

  • “Ode to a Yard” up on Collaborature!

    “Ode to a Yard” up on Collaborature!

    Yongbo Ma an esteemed Chinese scholar and the most highly regarded poet in China, translated my poem “Ode to a Yard”, and our collaboration is up on Collaborature. Thank you so much, Editor, Melissa Lemay! Thank you for following this link to read the collaboration… https://collaborature.blogspot.com/2025/06/ode-to-yard-bl-imy.html