Lenore Montanaro

Lenore Montanaro (born May 30, 1990) is a Rhode Island and Massachusetts attorney, American poet, above-the-knee amputee, three-time cancer survivor, and animal rescue attorney and writer.

Lenore Montanaro
Born (1990-05-30) May 30, 1990
Rhode Island, United States.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationAttorney

Early life

Montanaro was born on May 30, 1990, in Rhode Island, United States. She was diagnosed in September, 1995, with Rhabdomyosarcoma at the age of five and subsequently battled the disease until the loss of her right leg above-the-knee on May 10, 2002.[1] She wears a prosthetic leg and is the first leg amputee to attend and graduate from College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.[2][3] She received her Juris Doctor from Western New England University. While in law school, Montanaro was one of two recipients of a national scholarship competition sponsored by the Defense Research Institute (DRI). Her winning essay contained her detailed opinion of two of the proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.[4] On April 26, 2011, Montanaro's younger brother, John F. Montanaro III., died from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.[5]

Montanaro passed the Bar Exam in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.[6][7]. She is the Director of Advocacy for the Animal Rescue League of Boston, one of the oldest animal protection organizations in the United States. [8]

Literary career

Montanaro began writing poetry after the loss of her leg. Her literary influences include Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Elizabeth Bishop, Robert K. Cording, and Rainer Maria Rilke. She has published her first book of poetry, The Morning within the Dark.[9] A vision of understanding of death and dying is the subject of her poems.[10]

Writing style

Montanaro often writes about suffering and loss. Many of her poems detail one's experience with cancer and dying as viewed in an excerpt to her poem, titled, Sunglasses:[9](p29)

Perhaps, death is the taking off of the sunglasses,
the awareness of no longer needing
to be protected from the suffering existence
that is so visible to us here.

Her poem, "This Camp," was selected for the anthology The Cancer Poetry Project 2 that was released in 2013.[11] Montanaro is working on her next book of poems.

References
  1. Church, Chris (November 15, 2012). "Poetry helps NKHS grad deal with loss". North East Independent. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
  2. Turner, Samantha (January 28, 2012). "21-Year-Old Overcomes Cancer, Family Tragedy to Keep Brother's Dream Alive". North Kingstown Patch. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
  3. Silva, Barbara Morse (November 13, 2012). "Health Check: Cancer survivor inspires with poetry". WJAR NBC10 website. Archived from the original on February 5, 2013. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
  4. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-06-10. Retrieved 2015-06-10.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "John Frank Montanaro III obituary". Providence Journal. April 28, 2011. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
  6. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-06-04. Retrieved 2016-05-23.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. http://www.mass.gov/courts/docs/bbe/bbefeb2016passl-z.pdf
  8. https://www.arlboston.org/crueltymanual/
  9. Montanaro, Lenore M., (2012), The Morning Within the Dark, Montanaro Press, ISBN 978-0-9858894-5-6
  10. The Morning Within the Dark. Amazon.com page
  11. Miller, Karin B. "The Cancer Poetry Project 2" (PDF). The Cancer Poetry Project. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
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