Why Would You Leave Me? A Memoir by Leslie Harper Worthington

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This memoir in verse – lucid, vivid, moving, everywhere sincere – is a remarkable poetic accomplishment. It is the story of the scars that abandonment leaves on a child, how they endure decade after decade. It is also the story, however, of how those scars can turn a gifted, reflective writer into a poet. This assemblage of memories, most of them in free verse, form a coherent personal narrative. Sequences of images unfold effortlessly; they seem to choose and arrange themselves. On the first day of kindergarten, the speaker learns that her clothes and even her name make her a misfit. And one fellow student, “in flowered mini dress and blue moccasins,” lets her know that girls are not supposed to play on the boys’ side of the room. The image marks a formative day in the life of the child. Raised by aunts, uncles and grandparents, she is “sacrificed” by age sixteen. As she says. “Now you pay the light bill / Bring in the clothes from the line / Peel the potatoes / Bake the chicken / Carry the bed pan.” The penultimate poem, “Blue,” is a meditation on being color-blind. When “all the shades of blue, / are just blue,” then “all the shades of pain / can look like hate to you.” This impressive debut collection opens with the speaker acknowledging that telling one’s own story might be “a little indulgent” or inaccurate, like recalling that a bird once “knocked / on the back door,” but “perhaps / Someone benefits / From knowing” when such impressions are set, as they are here, in the amber of poetry.

–Carmine Di Biase

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Why Would You Leave Me? A Memoir

by Leslie Harper Worthington

Full-length Paper

979-8-89990-351-9

2026

This title will be released on February 13, 2026

In this honest and moving memoir, Why Would You Leave Me? Leslie Harper Worthington chronicles her journey of abandonment, trauma, and resilience. Through the raw and intimate lens of poetry, she recounts her childhood shaped by the discovery of painful truths about her parentage and the tumult of adolescence without adult guidance. Her story is one of yearning for connection, unraveling the lies that shrouded her identity, and learning to forgive. This collection of poems is a testament to the complexities of growing up abandoned, yet it is also a celebration of love’s quiet strength, the scars of grief, and the eventual peace that comes with understanding. Through verses of sorrow and healing, Worthington offers a reflection on the search for self, belonging, and the strength to keep moving forward. #HealingThroughPoetry #Memoir #Family #Forgiveness #Resilience #Abandonment

Leslie Harper Worthington is a retired educator who holds a PhD in Southern Literature. She has published two books of literary criticism and several scholarly articles as well as poems and short stories. Now residing on Lookout Mountain in northern Alabama, Dr. Worthington enjoys spending time with her children and grandchildren, traveling, and writing. A lifelong writer, she has returned to her creative pursuits in retirement, focusing on poetry as a means to explore the depths of the human experience and create honest, meaningful connections.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579681103920

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-harper-worthington-94372313a/

Website: https://www.leslieharperworthington.com/

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