A poem for Henrietta Lacks
I wrote this poem on a prompt from Sarah Allatt for a poetry contest on allpoetry.com. I had never heard of Henrietta Lacks before the prompt. I still have much to learn about her, but I know that cancer research, researchers, and survivors owe Henrietta a great debt. Let’s not forget her name. Thank you Henrietta Lacks.
HeLa I know — a poem (pronounce HeLa as heh·luh.)
HeLa I know that my cancer would be immortal
Yet, here I am, a forgotten soul
My name known only to a few who use me
Know beyond name to only those that knew me
HeLa I know I would be, yet, another Black woman
Exploited for her body
Without consent and
lacking compensation
For the greater good they say
Without any pay
Not for me, but for those that loved me
That is the American way
Originally published on Medium on 2023-10-07.