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

Contents

• 1 Early life
• 2 Legal career
• 3 Literary career
• 4 Writing style
• 5 References

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. She wears a prosthetic leg and is the first leg amputee to attend and graduate from College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, M*achusetts. She received her Juris Doctor from Western New England University. While in law school, Montanaro was one of two recipients of a national scholarship compe*ion sponsored by the Defense Research Ins*ute (DRI). Her winning essay contained her detailed opinion of two of the proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. On April 26, 2011, Montanaro's younger brother, John F. Montanaro III., died from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Legal career

Montanaro p*ed the Bar Exam in Rhode Island and M*achusetts. She is the Director of Advocacy for the Animal Rescue League of Boston, one of the oldest animal protection organizations in the United States.

Literary career

Montanaro began writing poetry after the loss of her leg. Her literary influences include Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David T*au, Elizabeth Bishop, Robert K. Cording, and Rainer Maria Rilke. She has published her first book of poetry, 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, *led, Sungl*es:: 29 

Perhaps, death is the taking off of the sungl*es,
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. Montanaro is working on her next book of poems.

References