Sharmagne Leland-St. John, 2007 Pushcart Prize nominee, is a Native American poet, concert performer, lyricist, artist, and film maker. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the poetry e-zine Quill and Parchment.com. Sharmagne spends time between her home in the Hollywood Hills, in Southern California and her fishing lodge on the Stillaguamish River in the Pacific Northwest.  She tours the United States, Canada, and England, as a performance poet, either solo or with her band  of poets "Poetry in Motion."   She has published 3 books of poetry  Unsung Songs (2003),  Silver Tears and Time (2005), Contingencies (2008) and co-authored a book on film production design. Designing Movies: Portrait of a Hollywood Artist (Greenwood/Praeger 2006).

You Who Sing
 
you who sing
the water song
to rivers
with your
liquid laughter
when night returns
and I am gone
will you remember
the taste of me
the warmth
the scent
the feel
the touch
the pleasure   
                                                
From Contingencies
(Quill and Parchment Press
and WynterBlue Publishing Canada Inc
2008)

Evolution
 
I swim near summer shadows
glide over dappled shoals
keeping to the fluid shallows
reminiscent of the womb
where I learned to swallow
gulps
of tantalizing air

in the moist amniotic sac
where I shed scales
preferring skin and
hanks of auburn hair
upon my head
I dispensed
with fins and gills
grew hands and feet
with which to tread
and push away
from muddy banks

I've no desire to wallow
in the rushes

no human need

the thin sharp reeds
knot and tangle
cut and pierce
my derma layer

I can dance
below the surface
upon the rocky sand
I shall dangle near
the river bottom
suspended, floating free
like the embryo
I used to be.
 
from  Silver Tears and Time. 2005

There Were Dry Red Days
 
There were dry red days.
Devoid of clouds.
Devoid of breeze.
Sound bruised
My burning bones.
Dirt cracked my hands
And caked my cheeks
No buds on limbs of trees
No birds on branches
No hope of rain
Scrawny chickens
Kicked up dust
Scratching for food
That wasn't there.
In the stifling, stillness
Of the scorched night
We dreamt
Of cool oases
Tropical isles
Emerald bays
Not these dry red days

from  Silver Tears and Time. 2005

© 2008 Sharmagne Leland-St.John