Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver

Sharon SingingMoon’s new poetry collection, The Weight of One Hummingbird Feather, is a tragic memoir of the loss of her son to drug addiction in early January 2023. These raw and honest poems reveal not just her son’s descent into addiction but also his healthy years of promise. Imagine a mother’s pain witnessing her son’s hopes and potential disintegrate overtime because of amphetamine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl use, which finally claimed his life. Imagine the pain his 8-year-old daughter felt when she found the body of her beloved daddy. The poems are powerful, raw and emotional. One cannot read them without empathy and compassion. SingingMoon not only shares her grief but also wants readers to learn about street drugs, such as fentanyl, which are taking countless lives today. She was helpless, unable to change her son’s choices. Sharing the intimate details of the path his life took and her forever grief over the loss of her son takes courage. SingingMoon is a skilled poet, and I believe many parents will relate to these impactful poems. The amount of fentanyl it takes to kill as person is the weight of one hummingbird wing.

Overdose January 2, 2023

he left us drowning
swimming in a raging sea
his love a needle

foil wrapped pills – unknown
origin – or a bottle
stolen from Breaktime

a year or two or more – no contact
then desperate calls
“send a ticket- bus or plane
it’s raining, cold
in California
miss seeing you at Christmas
I’m tired
in jail in Indiana
in Tennessee
in Missouri
bail me out
I got beat up
my car was stolen
I’m OK
send money
can’t wait to get back on the road”

he was a good playmate –
adulthood beyond his grasp –
he loved his daughter
made a cake for her eighth birthday
loved her but not enough to protect her
she found him on the floor
bloody from the face-first-fall
as he collapsed

did he know he was dying
somewhere between the high
& the falling
did he remember when he was young 
& strong & filled with potential
before he chose the drugs 
he thought set him free

Sharon has another poetry collection called Random Seed, which is a spiritual collection of poems resounding in nature. The poems are well-crafted and mesmerizing. They ring with Indigenous truth. If you enjoy poetry that calls to the soul in a meditative way, you may enjoy this collection. Enjoy this poem from the collection.

I Am an Empty Bowl

I am an empty bowl
formed on the wheel of the Great Mystery
in the eternal fire
alive with the ten thousand manifestations
my individual voice
is but an echo
of the vibrating universe

the elemental forces
meet on the rim
of my existence
and sing 
throughout my being