Poetry

Virginia LeBaron is a nurse and a poet. Her writing is inspired, in part, by her experiences caring for patients with cancer. She is the author of the chapbook Cardinal Marks (Finishing Line Press, 2021). Her debut full collection, Care, a reckoning, was a finalist for the 2025 St. Lawrence Book Award, won the 2026 Broken Tribe Poetry Award, and is forthcoming from Serving House Books in 2027. 

Her poems have appeared in Mom Egg Review, Potomac Review, Bicoastal Review, Winter Anthology, Pigeon Pages, and elsewhere. Virginia's writing has been supported by residencies with the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (Mt. San Angelo and Moulin à Nef) and Graves Mill Farm, and she is an alum of the Lighthouse Poetry Collective and the Tucson Festival of Books Master Poetry Workshop. In 2025, she was a finalist for the Arts & Letters Rumi Prize for Poetry and winner of the Luminaire Poetry Award. 

PUBLISHED POEMS

  1. comings & goings, South 85 Journal, 2026

  2. Chasing Ice, Mom Egg Review (MER), Mom Egg Review (MER). Print issues are sold to the public at $18; PDF copies are available to the public at $5 each. Watch the live reading.

  3. The Albino Deer, Potomac Review, 2026

  4. Tortoise in Culver City; Cerberus, rescued; Stepmother, as turning point, Poetry Society of Virginia Collected Winning Entries 2026

  5. Stepmother, The Poet's Billow, Winner, Bermuda Triangle Prize

  6. East Whiteland Swim Club, Memorial Day Weekend; Currents; Bathyal; I love you best, Kelp Journal, 2026

  7. Patients I Cannot Forget: RB, Alternating Current Press (contest winner), 2025

  8. Patients I Cannot Forget: Sister Ford, Alternating Current Press (contest finalist), 2025

  9. Patients I Cannot Forget: My Father, Alternating Current Press (contest finalist), 2025

  10. Patients I Cannot Forget, One Page Poetry 2025 Anthology, 2025

  11. Détente With My Estranged Mother While I am in Paris, Taos Journal of Poetry, 2025

  12. Second Marriage Honeymoon, Tadpole Press (Top 10 Winner), 2025

  13. Gabrielle, Panorama: The Journal of Travel, Place & Nature, 2025

  14. Love Poem to My Ex-Husband, Bicoastal Review (contest finalist, nominated for Best of the Net), 2025

  15. Death of the Red-Bellied Woodpecker, Bicoastal Review, 2025

  16. Dina’s Disappearance, Ocean Poetry Anthology II, 2025

  17. Patients I Cannot Forget: Man in the ICU, The Scarred Tree, 2025

  18. Patients I Cannot Forget: LE, The Scarred Tree, 2025

  19. Love Poem to Second Marriages, One Sentence Poems, 2025

  20. Love Poem to Second Marriages, Winter Anthology, 2025

  21. Patients I Cannot Forget: RB, Pigeon Pages, 2024

  22. Dinner, Kiawah Island, Gyroscope Review, 2021

  23. Cardinal Marks, Finishing Line Press (chapbook), 2021

Non-Fiction

My non-fiction writing focuses on my global health research in India (Caring in Context, An Ethnography of Cancer Nursing in India, Routledge Press; 2024).I intentionally wrote Caring in Context in an accessible style to appeal to a wide audience and raise awareness about how much of the world experiences cancer.  While you may find the book of particular interest if you are a healthcare provider or global health advocate, you will enjoy the book if you know nothing about these topics (I promise!). All you need to enjoy Caring in Context is an interest in the human condition and an openness to learning about those who may experience life differently than you.

Importantly, this book challenges beliefs and assumptions about the moral obligations of nursing practice and asks readers to reconsider how we can expect nurses to care for others when no one is caring for them. The detailed Methods section and real-life examples also make Caring in Context perfect for assigned reading in courses about qualitative research, ethnography, global health, cancer care, palliative care, and health disparities. Read chapter excerpts (1, 2, 3) to learn more.