ARTIST STATEMENT
“Elegy for Adam Toledo” is written in the style of two consecutive tankas – a form of Japanese poetry typically composed of five lines with a 5/7/5/7/7 syllable count. Tankas, like haikus, are known for their succinct, vivid imagery. This poem recounts one tragic moment of contact between persons caught within multiple systems of oppressive, dangerous connections.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Mary Barbara Walsh is a teacher, a philosopher of politics and a poet. She is also Professor of Political Science at Elmhurst University in Illinois. Her research has been published as articles in numerous academic journals and chapters in scholarly books, including the following academic journals: Hypatia; Polity; The Review of Politics; Ethics, Politics, & Society and The Journal of Women, Politics and Policy. She has just begun to express her narrative and poetic voice. Her literary work has appeared in So to Speak: Feminist Journal of Language and Art; The Midnight Oil; Beyond Words; Untold Volumes; and Ariel’s Dream (forthcoming). She is especially excited to bring together her academic research with her creative, literary voice.
© Mary Barbara Walsh