For Sidonamarie poetry has been her therapy over the years. In 1993, she experienced an unusual traumatic event. Over the years, poetry has helped her sort things out. She has always had a strong spiritual nature that is balanced by strong doubt. During periods of tremendous confusion, her poetry (sometimes more like stories, her son thinks) has helped her remember who she is.

For all fifty-six years of her life, she has lived in Michigan. She was born in Kalamazoo on September 16, 1958. Her parents separated when she was young due to her mother’s mental illness. Her dad died in 1965, at twenty-nine, from a cerebral hemorrhage. She was six when he passed.

The author didn’t begin to write poetry until she went to live with her aunt in Wartervliet, Michigan. There, she attended Lake Michigan College in Benton Harbor. After two years there, she attended Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. She graduated with a bachelor of arts in English and a minor in elementary education.

Right out of college, in 1983-1984, She was hired at St. Mary’s in Paw Paw, Michigan, as a kindergarten teacher. She taught half-day kindergarten for one year before she was moved into a full-time first grade position for three years. She met her husband, Gary, during that time. On October 17, 1987, they married. At that time, She moved to Fennville, Michigan, where she lives today. She and Gary have a son, twenty-four, and a daughter, nineteen.