Lenore Montanaro

Lenore Montanaro (born May 30, 1990) is an American poet, above-the-knee amputee, three-time cancer survivor, and animal rights activist.

Early life

Background

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. She wears a prosthetic leg and is the first leg amputee to attend and graduate from College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. She is also obtaining her Juris Doctor in Law at Western New England University. On April 26, 2011, Montanaro's younger brother, John F. Montanaro III., died from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

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, titled, The Morning Within the Dark. A vision of understanding of death and dying is the subject of her poems.

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:

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