The Burning Breast, by Alum Peggy Tahir

SYNAPSE (UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO) -- I moved to San Francisco to attend San Francisco State University and received both B.A. and M.A. in English: Creative Writing. I’ve had poems published in a variety of literary magazines, including Blue Mesa Review, Lilliput Review, (the poetry) Worm and Southern Ocean Review. Poems have also appeared in “Hybrid Fire: An Anthology.” A chapbook, “Tarot Meditations,” was published in 1987. I attended UC Berkeley and received my MLIS in 1986, then started my career as a medical librarian. I have been working at UCSF since 1998, and was for many years associated with the group Poets on Parnassus. I have continued writing and working on a variety of different art projects such as quilting, papermaking, lampwork, drawing and jewelry creation. I painted The Burning Breast while taking an encaustic workshop. The inspiration for both The Burning Breast and Rad-isms was my experience with radiation therapy after surgery for breast cancer.