Poetics 3

The walk poem I wrote is named after Ellyn, a close family member who passed away this September after a brief battle with breast cancer and after losing her husband 7 weeks prior. After she was diagnosed in May, we made a team called the “Sole Mates” in her honor, but we had the honor of walking last weekend in her memory. The poem was written during the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in Pennsauken, NJ. I walked with the many friends that joined my team as well as my mother and father. My mother has been breast cancer survivor since 2007. We fundraised over $2,000 to donate the day of the walk by selling homemade goodies, crafts, bracelets and other “pink ribbon” items. The day of the walk was a beautiful autumn day, which was Ellyn’s favorite time of year. I carried a notebook with me on the walk, and jotted down the things I saw that either reminded me of her or the things that were in the “color of the day”- pink, of course. I was astonished to see all things pink that the men, women, and children who participated in the walk found to wear. My team had made team t-shirts and had pink boas amongst other pink things. I took several pictures that later helped me write the poem as well. A picture in particular of another team’s shirt, worn by a woman walking in front of me, had on it a list of all the words that were inspiring to me during the walk, including “bravery, heroism, and healing”. Another team shirt had a picture of Rosie the Riveter decked out in all pink ribbons and as I looked at the shirt as the person wearing it posed for a team picture, they shouted, “We can do it”. I made note of signs along the route of the walk that gave statistics about the number of women suffering with breast cancer today and information on prevention. The walk poem was easier to write than both the object and ekphrastic poems as personal feelings were allowed to make their way into the poem. Establishing a subject for the poem was easy as well, as the “walk” took place shortly before this poem was due.