We had such a wonderful time together last year, we’re doing it again! The Attleboro Public Library and the Relay For Life of Greater Attleboro, a team fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, are planning their second poetry-essay reading to raise community awareness about cancer. Organizers invite people to share their poems or essays of up to 500 words on the topic of “Slam Cancer: How I’ve Been Touched by the Disease.” Entries must be emailed to slamcancer21@gmail.com from Friday, April 1 to Friday, April 29. This time period for submissions dovetails with National Poetry Month, which has been observed in April since first being organized in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets.
The event hopes to inspire people to share how cancer has touched them and demonstrate that every cancer diagnosis affects many people, from patients and survivors to caregivers and family members. The poem or essay can be a personal story of surviving cancer, relate the experience of helping to care for a loved one battling cancer, a story about a friend, spouse or relative with the disease, a story about someone you miss who succumbed to cancer — or anything else that describes how the disease has affected your life.
The writing initiative is open to people of all ages regardless of where they live.. Participants will be given the option of reading their submissions at an outdoor gathering being planned for Friday, May 20 at 6pm.
For more information, contact aplprograms@sailsinc.org
