Tag: Poetry
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Barb’s Wordy Blurbs: “Encore: A Collection of Poetry” by Zaneta Varnado Johns
Zaneta Varnado Johns’ book, “Encore: A Collection of Poetry”, is a book for the soul of humanity. As I read the poems, I felt my heart open and expand. She begins in Part One with “Whispers and Romances”, which celebrates sensual love and the sense of love as it manifests…
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Memories of You: Part Two
In Yesterday’s post, I shared a poem about my sister Martha and a preview to today’s poem, “Mom’s Song and Dance”. Yesterday I explained my parents’ emotional anguish over Martha’s and my decision to move from home into our own apartment. As the oldest girls, Martha and I were heavily…
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Memories of You: Part One
Memories of You For my Sister Martha on her 70th birthdayWhen you were born,I hugged and kissed you.I was two, you,the size of a shoe.We sisters were like twins,both born in August,so like two smarties.we shared our birthday parties.I wished I’d had my own cake.But for your sake,I held my…
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”The Bittersweet” Translated into Italian by Irma Kurti!
I am grateful to Irma Kurti for translating my poem “The Bittersweet” into Italian. It appears in International Web Post Journal. The English version follows the Italian. This poem came about after I discovered a leaf clinging to a spider web on a bush near my front door. I filmed…
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Barb’s Wordy Blurbs: Heron Spirit by Ken Gierke
Ken Gierke’s new poetry collection, Heron Spirit, is a conversation with the natural world. The poems take us from playing in leaves to lines that paddle in unison with the waves of metaphors, the lines that stretch into the endless horizon of an endless river. Nature holds bold, tall titans, sentinel eagles,…
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Barb’s Wordy Blurbs: Files of Information on People Who Don’t Exist by Peter Mladinic
In Peter Mladinic’s poetry collection Files of Information on People Who Don’t Exist (BlazeVOX, October 9, 2024), the minutia of daily forgetting become memoirs set in free verse. With the precision of a reporter, Mladinic uncovers our deepest impulses, surrenders, and sins. A keen observer, he writes with such honesty, we…
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The Wetlands
My husband and I love to take country drives, especially to Eagle Bluffs, a local wetlands on the Missouri River. Along the way and throughout the wetlands, we have taken to counting the deer. We love sing the fawns and occasional buck. Last year we saw several bucks, even in…
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Barb’s Wordy Blurbs: Me a Guest Judge for Collaborature?!
I’m grateful to Melissa Lemay, founder of and editor for Collaborature, for inviting me to be the guest judge for the month of April. I read each entry several times and appreciated the opportunity to judge each and every one. I selected an ekphrastic poem “Unstrung” by Mary Stebbins Taitt…
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Barb’s Wordy Blurbs: “Seesaw” by Ken Tomaro and Nolcha Fox!
I hope you like my new column “Barb’s Wordy Blurbs”. It’s my opportunity to share short reviews of books I’ve read and support authors. Today I feature “Seesaw” (Prolific Pulse Press, 2025) by Ken Tomaro and Nolcha Fox. I recall the seesaw, that teeter-totter on the playground. Seated on each end…
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Sun Dog: A Leonhard Collaboration up on Collaborature
Collaborature published the following collaboration between me and my husband. I sometimes write poems to photos he takes on his river kayaking ventures or hikes. Check out the beautiful presentation on Collaborature! https://collaborature.blogspot.com/search?q=Sun+dog Sun Dog* The setting sun peers through clouds. A sun dog arches its back, stretching the light…
Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver 