Martha Serpas

Growing up in bayou country, the poet Martha Serpas is attached to the landscape and culture of southern Louisiana. Poems about the environment and the endangered Gulf shores permeate her work, including her 2006 collection, The Dirty Side of the Storm, and her earlier book, Côte Blanche, as well as her poetry that is included in the environmental documentary film, Veins in the Gulf. Raised Cajun Catholic, Serpas also discusses the role religion plays in her work and in her life as a lesbian and a hospital chaplain. Her 2015 collection, The Diener, investigates loss and healing in a hospital trauma center and the eroding landscape of Louisiana.  Her latest book, Double Effect, is the winner of the 2020 K.E. Phillabaum Poetry Award.