* * *
As a poet, Leigh Harrison has been widely published, and has worked on the staff of numerous literary magazines, such as Poems That Thump in the Dark, Second Glance Magazine, and Medicinal Purposes Literary Review, Asbestos Arts Journal, as well as Impact and et cetera (the official and unofficial anthologies printed by her and her fellow students when she attended Fairleigh Dickinsin University.)
Ms. Harrison is the author of several poetry collections, of which four have already been published: "Tour de Farce" (New Spirit Press: Kew Gardens, NY, 1996) a chapbook of humor and parody, "Our Harps Upon the Willows" (Cross-Cultural Literary Editions: Merrick, NY, 1999) a collection of poems about spiritual faith and doubt, and "Finding Sermons in Stones," (WordCrew.org: New York, 2011) a collection of poems about nature and the four seasons. Her latest book, published in 2020, is entitled "From A to Zeus: Poems with Biblical and Mythological References." Recently, WordCrew.org released a speken-word CD of the poetry from her collection, "Our Harps Upon the Willows," originally published by Cross-Cultural Literary Editions.
Leigh's book reviews and essays have appeared in numerous magazines including American Book Review, Medicinal Purposes Literary Review, First Literary Review - East, On The Bus, and Home Planet News (online). She is the creator of two new poetic forms: the Harrisonian sonnet, and the Pentina, a variation on the sestina, and her other publication credits appear below.
There is an article on Wikipedia about the Pentina, and the Pentina is also included in "The Book of Forms / A Handbook of Poetics Including Odd and Invented Forms" (published 2012), by Lewis Turco. She has guest-hosted the cable TV show, Poet To Poet (with Robert Dunn), which appeared for years on cable TV in NYC and other cable affiliates across America.
Since 2021, Leigh has been a contributing writer to the CT Shoreline magazine, "Old Saybrook Neighbors," in which her articles about local musicians, poets, authors, artists, and craftspeople are featured.
Leigh Harrison / Books, Publications
Publication Credits
PUBLISHED WORK
"When the willow hung low..." Impact / Fairleigh Dickinson
University Press (Spring, 1966)
(untitled) Impact Fairleigh Dickinson University Press (Fall, 1966)
"In This Hour, a Divergence" Impact / Fairleigh Dickinson
University Press (Fall, 1966)
"poem" et cetera (1966)
"Once a Violet..." et cetera (1966)
"Wind Song" et cetera (1966)
EARLY POEMS
POETRY 1990 - 1999
POETRY 2000 - 2009
POETRY 2010 - 2019
SHORT STORIES
LITERARY CRITICISM, BOOK REVIEWS, ESSAYS
PLAYS
CROSSWORD PUZZLES
"Voluntary in Bb" Poetry New York (Issue No. 6 - Winter 1993 / Spring 1994)
"Haiku: the orchid fingers of night..." Cherry Blossoms (1994)
"Amigos" Nomad's Choir (Vol. 3, Issue 3, Summer 1995)
"Reports of Her Death are Greatly Exaggerated" Poems That Thump in the Dark
New Spirit Press (Issue 6, 1995)
"Thirteen Ways of Looking at Wallace Stevens" Wings (Vol. 4, No. 2, 1995)
"Pilot in the Sky" Ag-Pilot International (Vol. 18, No. 9, September 1995)
"The Paradox of Sorrow" Medicinal Purposes Literary Review (Fall, 1995)
"Mary Shelley Remembers" Poetry Digest (No. 11, Fall 1995)
"The Sculptor" and "The Cutting Edge" Second Glance New Spirit Press (Issue 4, 1995)
"N'Orlins" and "The Question" The Stork (Collection of Poems Ed. by
Samantha Kinsley) Fall 1995
"Transformations" Medicinal Purposes Literary Review (Winter 1996)
"Materfamilias" and "Modern Mythologies" And I Drink Red Velvet Juice...
(Anthology Ed. by Nicole Liebowitz) Queens College Women's
Center, Spring 1996
"White Roses" Salonika (Vol. 1, Number 1) Summer 1996
"Imaginings" Salonika (Vol. 1, Number 1) Summer 1996
"Secret Tongues" Nomad's Choir (Vol. 4, Issue 4) Fall 1996
“The Testament of Hope” Scribes of Ozymandias (Shelley Society, 1997)
“haiku” (“Orchid fingers of dusk…”) Medicinal Purposes Literary Review
(Volume I, No. 10 / Year’s End, 1998)
“Stop It!” 9-1-1’s (The “Help Haiku” Book) (ed.: Evie-Ivy & Tom Oleszcuk) (1999)
“Cockeyed” Medicinal Purposes Literary Review (Vol. II, No. 1) (Year’s End, 1999)
“N’Orlins” Rattapallax (Number 3 / 2000)
“The Magic of Small Things” Medicinal Purposes Literary Review,
Vol. II, No. 4 (Midyear 2001)
“Medusa” Nomad’s Choir (Vol. II, Issue 3 / Summer 2003)
“Rain / Sea / Sky” Medicinal Purposes Literary Review (Vol. III No. 1 Early 2006)
“So Much For Superheroes” Soul Fountain (#28, Fall 2006)
“These Lines” Soul Fountain (#30, Spring 2007)
"The Paradox of Sorrow” Soul Fountain (#30, Spring 2007)
“Rainbow Year” (haiku series) The Brownstone Poets (2007 Anthology)
“Above Arizona, Above Utah” "Asbestos: Arts Journal (Issue 1, Fall 2007)
“Aphrodite” Asbestos: Arts Journal (Issue 1, Fall 2007)
“Superman’s Girl” Look! Up In The Sky (An Anthology of Poems
About Superheroes) Issue 2007 / 2008
"Noah Comes to Ararat” Asbestos Poetry Journal (Issue 2, Spring 2008)
“Of Flames in Darkness (for L.L.L.)” The Seventh Quarry (Issue 7, Winter 2008)
"Devouring Chocolate" Dinner With the Muse (Green Pavilion Anthology / 2009)
"Modern Divorce" Lucid Rhythms (online) (Issue 1, 2011) www.lucidrhythms.com
"Gently Embracing That Good Night" First Literary Review - East (online)
(March, 2011) www.rulrul.4mg,com
"In Wonderland," "The Romance of Selene," and "Once Upon a Time" Voice of the Bards:
Contemporary Verse of Myths, Fairy Tales, and Legends (Wagner & Hale, Editors)
ISBN 978-1-257-63144-5 (Local Gems Poetry Press: New York, April 2011)
"The Bondage of Form" First Literary Review - East (online) (August, 2011)
www.rulrul.4mg,com (SCROLL TO BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE)
"Folding Into White" Stars In Out Hearts (World Poetry Movement /
Editor's Choice Award / August 2011
"The Featured Poet," "The Snake," "The Orgy," "The Joy of Music," "Nonet For a Nonet,"
"The Unisphere" Brevitas / Festival of the Short Poem (8th Annual Anthology) 2011
"Counterpoint" (accompanying my description of the form I created, the "Pentina")
"The Book of Forms / A Handbook of Poetics Including Odd and Invented
Forms" by Lewis Turco (University Press of New England, 2012)
"Summer," "Up For Adoption," "haiku: Grey Wind," "Hurricane Irene, 2011 (Pts I & II)," "Orange Leaves" Brevitas / Festival of the Short Poem (9th Annual Anthology) 2012
"What We Come To Write" The Brownstone Poets (2013 Anthology)
"Belly Button," "And All I Got Was This Lousy Tee Shirt...," "I Don't Get It...," "My Mistress,
The Sea," "Commercial" Brevitas / Festival of the Short Poem
(10th Annual Anthology) 2013
"The Comma Sutra" The Seventh Quarry (Swansea Poetry Magazine) Special Issue /
April 2014 / Swansea, Wales, UK
"The Guitarist" (printed in English, along with Korean translation by Irene S. Yoon)
Korean Expatriate Literature / 2014 volume
"Poetry As Spiritual Practice" (excerpt included in "The Poetry of Everyday Life" by
Steve Zeitlin) Cornell University Press, 2016 (p.186)
"Walt Speaks" "Poets To Come" (a Poetry Anthology honoring Walt Whitman's
Bicentennial) edited by James P. Wagner (Ishwa) Local Gems Press, 2019
"What I Know For Sure" included in "Universal Oneness" (an Anthology of Magnum
Opus Poems from around the World) edited by Dr. Vivekanand Jha, 2019
"Why Do You Think They Call It Dope?” Medicinal Purposes Literary Review
(Volume II, No. XI / Early 2005
Review of Barbara M. Fisher's "Noble Numbers, Subtle Words"
American Book Review (Vol. 19, No. 5 / July-Aug. 1998)
Review of Lyn Lifshin's "Ballroom" First Literary Review - East (online) (February,
2012) www.rulrul.4mg.com
Review of Andrew Kaufman's "Both Sides of the Niger" Home Planet News (online)
(April, 2016) http://homeplanetnews.org/AOnLine.html
“Raga Modes” / unpublished article / (c.) Leigh Harrison, 1976, 2009)
“The 3rd Annual Medicinal Purposes Poetry Contest” (article as Contest Judge)
(Medicinal Purposes Literary Review (Volume II, No. I / Year’s End, 1999)
“The 4th Annual Medicinal Purposes Poetry Contest” (article as Contest Judge)
(Medicinal Purposes Literary Review (Volume II, No. III / Year’s End, 2000)
“The 5th Annual Medicinal Purposes Poetry Contest” (article as Contest Judge)
(Medicinal Purposes Literary Review (Volume II, No. V / Year’s End, 2001)
“The 6th Annual Medicinal Purposes Poetry Contest” (article as Contest Judge)
Medicinal Purposes Literary Review (Volume II, No. VII / Year’s End, 2002)
“The 7th Annual Medicinal Purposes Poetry Contest” (article as Contest Judge)
Medicinal Purposes Literary Review (Volume II, No. IX / Issue reference?)
"The 8th Annual Medicinal Purposes Poetry Contest” (article as Contest Judge)
Medicinal Purposes Literary Review (Volume II, No. XI / Early 2005)
Review of Andrew Kaufman's The Rwanda Poems" North of Oxford (online)
March 2024
"Moonsong" (a one-act play) performed at The Little Theater at York College
1994
“Poet’s Personified Puzzle” (a poetry crossword puzzle) Medicinal Purposes
Literary Review (Vol. I, No. V / Winter 1997)
POETRY 2020 - present
"The Art of Poetry" and "What We Come to Write" included in "VerbalArt" (an
Anthology of Poems & Prose About Writing and Poetry") Vol. 5, Issue #2,
edited by Dr. Vivekanand Jha, July 2022