Photo credit
Nigar Pilarski

Biography

Sheniz Janmohamed  (MFA)  is a firm believer in fostering community through collaboration, compassion and creativity. In her own practice, she strives to embody words through performance, nature art and writing. A poet, artist-educator and land artist, Sheniz has performed her work in venues across the world, including the Jaipur Literature Festival, Alliance Française de Nairobi and the Aga Khan Museum.   Sheniz visits dozens of schools and community organisations each year to teach, perform, and inspire creativity in youth, adults and seniors. Her writing has been published in a variety of publications, including Quill & Quire and Canadian Literature.  Sheniz is also the author of three collections of poetry:  Bleeding Light (Mawenzi House, 2010) Firesmoke (Mawenzi House, 2014) and Reminders on the Path (2021).  She is deeply influenced by poetry from the Zen and Sufi traditions. 

 

Micro-interview

Did you read poetry when you were in high school? Is there a particular poem that you loved when you were a teenager?

I did read poetry in high school, and some of my favourites included Kahlil Gibran,Tupac Shakur and Robert Frost (how is that for a combination?) There were some poems that spoke to me deeply, and one of those poems was  Christopher Pearse Cranch's  “Thought.” I loved his poem so much that I printed it and mounted it to my wall. 

When did you first start writing poetry? And then when did you start thinking of yourself as a poet?

I started writing poems when I was quite little, perhaps age 6 or 7, as my family remembers me misprounouncing poems as “polems.” I started writing more frequently in my pre-teens, and by high school, I was writing poetry and lyrics every day in the cafeteria. While I had always thought of myself as a poet, I only started to admit it to others when I was publishing and performing more professionally.  

What do you think a poet’s “job” is?

A poet's job is to confront the uncomfortable, to familiarize the unfamiliar, to make magic of the every day, to capture fleeting moments, to hold vigil, to bring the reader closer to the fire. 

If you have a poem in our anthology what inspired you to write it?

n/a

If you had to choose one poem to memorize from our anthology, which one would it be?

There are so many poems that I adore and that hold special meaning for me, but I would love the challenge of memorizing Gerard Manley Hopkins' “Pied Beauty.” I was first introduced to this poem in my Modern Poetry class in university, and the rhythm, coupled with the alliteration, made it a delicious poem to read. I can only imagine it would be equally as fun to memorise and perform, as there is a lot to work with and play with in the form and structure of the poem. 

Publications

Title
Bleeding Light
Publisher
Mawenzi House (formerly TSAR)
Date
2010
Publication type
Book
Title
Firesmoke
Publisher
Mawenzi House (formerly TSAR)
Date
2014
Publication type
Book
Title
Reminders on the Path
Publisher
Mawenzi House
Date
2021
Publication type
Book
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