La Shaun phoenix Moore was born in Detroit, Michigan. Detroit. Where life is raw and hard and culturally beautiful all at once. In Detroit, if you’re the conscious kind, all those elements meld into one and give you purpose. And phoenix is the conscious kind. One who lives her life between two creative worlds: music and poetry. Through both, she fully expresses herself. Through both, she experiences a sense of
purity and gives back, which is reflected in her debut poetry book, The Absence of Smoke and Mirrors (Dakota Avenue West Publishing, Detroit, Michigan) released in early 2011.

The Absence of Smoke and Mirrors came about with growth and a greater awareness of all the creativity within her and is a poetic mixture of all the things she stands for. It is a vehicle to influence the black/urban/hip-hop community to discover a love of self; her quest to connect the reader/listener’s soul
with words alive with energy and meaning. The work centers on what drives her, African American cultural, spiritual, and sexual awareness, topics that can be quite controversial at times.

The Absence of Smoke and Mirrors is the result of two things: a need to have something more tangible to chronicle her journey; and years of poetic indulgence.

Her creative journey began in 1995 and while The Absence of Smoke and Mirrors is her first fully published book, she has previously independently published two chapbooks, Mind Jewels and Interlude to the Daydream. She has also compiled a compact disc sampler of her work entitled It Was Probably Intentional. Additionally, she has recorded a poem and a song (she’s also a gifted singer/songwriter) on
the Beachland Ballroom Anthology, as well as published in the anthology My Soul to His Spirit: Soulful Expressions from Black Daughters to Their Fathers, edited by Imelda Beaty.

As a spoken word artist/Slam poet, she has had the wonderful opportunity to share stages with The Last Poets, Saul Williams, Slum Village, Dead Prez, Mos Def, The Roots, Khary Kimani Turner and The Black Bottom Collective, Aurora Harris, Da Boogie Man, The Black Poetic Society, Nu Urban Soul Essentials, Third Eye Open Collective and Black Ink Collective. She coached the 2004 and 2006 Detroit National
Poetry Slam Team and was the five year host of the Byte This Poetry Series at Cliff Bells (Detroit). She sits on the Executive Council for Poetry Slam, Inc. and is the Event Director for Women of the World Poetry Slam.

Phoenix is currently Coordinator of Exhibitions and Development with the University of Michigan Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She lives with her husband, Tony in Sterling Heights, Michigan.