About me
M.L. Smoker is Nakoda, Dakota, and Lakota, a citizen of the Fort Peck Tribes, and rooted in her family’s homeplace Tabexa Wakpa (Frog Creek). M.L.’s poems speak to themes of personal struggle and identity, drawing from Native American culture, language, and history. “Being a poet,” she says in a From the Fishouse interview, “allows me to interact and observe and be a witness to so many things that go on in the world around us.” Her words often seek to understand the kinship between people and places. She is a former Montana Poet Laureate, an educator and education advocate, co-author of the children's graphic novel Thunderous, and author of Another Attempt at Rescue and a new collection of poems debuting in 2025.
