Wednesday Poet Series

Starting today I am beginning a weekly series to introduce a new poet each week. Some of these poets will have a national stature and some will be lesser knowns, perhaps poets with more regional ties. My intent is a mixture of both. If you have someone you'd like me to consider, please feel free to drop me a line.

Today is the first installment in this series and the poet featured is Native American poet named Sharmagne Leland-St. John who makes her home in southern California. She has written two poetry books, Silver Tears and Time & Unsung Songs.

Sharmagne has toured extensively sharing her work across the U.S., Canada and in England. She is also a poetry blogger and her site also called Poetry in Motion can be found here. Besides poetry, here interests include gardening, beadwork, film making ( she has co-authored a book on the subject), travel, Native American flute and her daughter.

I found two poems of Sharmagne's that I was particularly fond of. Evolution and I Said Coffee. Evolution has great metaphorical devise as she relates fetal development. In I Said Coffee, I like the way she takes the reader in and out of a particular point of view throughout the entire piece to a nice surprising ending.

I also found evidence of her Native American culture showing plainly through the poem Tiny Warrior that can be seen in poeticdiversity.

An interview with Sharmagne can be found at Magnapoets. I am anxious to read more of her work.

tags: Sharmagne Leland-St. John Wednesday Poet