Breast Cancer Survivor, Poet Anne Boyer Honored by Poetry Center

GOLDEN GATE XPRESS -- Anne Boyer is a friend to many, a well-known poet, a single mother and a woman whose life was suddenly interrupted this year with the diagnosis of breast cancer. “At the fullest expression of its treatment, breast cancer is total strike: striking hair, striking eyelashes, striking eyebrows, striking skin, striking thinking, striking language, striking feeling, striking vigor, striking appetite, striking eros, striking maternity, striking productivity, striking immune system, negated fertility, negated breasts,” Boyer wrote on her blog. In honor of Boyer and the effects her disease has had on her spirit and her work, the SF State Poetry Center held a session at Ruth’s Table in the Mission. “We wanted to do something that would encourage her and celebrate her work,” said Elise Ficarra, Poetry Center associate director. “People chose to read their favorite poems that Anne wrote, plus many poets read poems that they had written for Anne or to Anne.”