Claire Calman
'Think Pink' -
Breast Cancer Awareness
Background
Claire Calman was appointed to work with the Imperial Cancer Research Fund to write poems to highlight the charity's 'Think Pink' campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness month in October 1998. Claire's ability to write witty, bittersweet and accessible work made her an ideal choice for this complex subject. At the conclusion, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month Co-ordinator Maxine Cole wrote to The Poetry Society: 'I'm sure that you will be pleased to know that Claire's poems inspired members of the general public to write their own poems, which I have been collecting in my office.'Claire Calman's poetry has been performed on Radio 4, for Woman's Hour and a radio comedy series called Five Squeezy Pieces. Following are several poems she wrote for the Breast Cancer Awareness campaign:
Think pink
Think pink.
Don't blink-
er yourself
to the facts.
Think pink.
Don't think
it's OK
to be lax.
Think pink.
Don't shrink
from doing
your tests.
Think pink.
Stay in sync
with each inch
of your breasts.
A cancer cell speaks:
Send no money now
Keep your cash,
Save your stash,
Don't be lavish
with your loot.
We have plans
For expans-
ion and are aching
to take root
In a mound
We have found -
A secret place that
feels just right.
Perfect, prime,
Now it's time
to seize this
undeveloped site.
So spend it,
Don't send it;
Neglected,
we will thrive.
Favour thrift,
Forget that gift.
Help a cancer cell
SURVIVE.
Four Things
Four things
where I would
rather not
find a lump:
custard
gravy
mashed potato
and bosoms.
In Memorium
Here lies
the lump:
Cut off
in its prime;
Its early ambitions
to conquer new domains
never fulfilled;
Its plans for
cellular domination
discovered,
defeated
and laid to rest.
Goodbye, lump
and good riddance.
And the poem written for Radio 4 Woman's Hour:
Hands-on experience
It's best
to test
each breast
undressed.
I pressed
my breast
in bra and vest:
my quest
revealed
unwelcome
guest
- a lump?
No jest.
In south-west
quadrant,
I came to rest,
and there it was
- a bump.
Loathsome pest,
foul intruder
in the nest,
lurking hidden
in my chest.
But then,
distressed,
I pressed
my breast
again.
My mind's
at rest.
I leap
with zest:
It's but a rosebud
on my vest!
It's best
to test
each breast
- undressed.
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