A Poem Traveled Down My Arm: Poems and Drawings

by Alice Walker

In this illuminating book, Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist and acclaimed poet Alice Walker reveals her remarkable philosophy of life. Curiously, this labor of love started with the author’s signature: Faced with the daunting task of providing autographs for multiple copies of one of her poetry collections, Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth, Walker turned an act of repetition into an act of inspiration. For each autograph became something more than a name: a thoughtful reflection, an impromptu sketch, a heartfelt poem. The result is this spontaneous burst of the unexpected. A Poem Traveled Down My Arm is a lovely collection of insights and drawings—by turns charming and humorous, provocative and profound—that represent the wisdom of one of today’s most beloved writers.

The essence of Walker’s independent spirit emanates from words and images that are simple but deep in meaning. An empowering approach to life...the inspiration to live completely in the moment...the chance to nurture one’s creativity and peace of mind—all these beautiful elements are evoked by this unusual and original book.


From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Poetry, Feminism, African American, Fiction, African American Literature, Black Literature, Female Authors

151 pages, Hardcover

First published October 28, 2003

About the author

Noted American writer Alice Walker won a Pulitzer Prize for her stance against racism and sexism in such novels as The Color Purple (1982).

People awarded this preeminent author of stories, essays, and poetry of the United States. In 1983, this first African woman for fiction also received the national book award. Her other books include The Third Life of Grange Copeland , Meridian , The Temple of My Familiar , and Possessing the Secret of Joy . In public life, Walker worked to address problems of injustice, inequality, and poverty as an activist, teacher, and public intellectual.

Reviews

[Jessica Ziegler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mmmm- genuine, rich, and provocative

“The Earth is too wet to be a machine.”

[Fadillah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bear in mind that Alice walker wrote these poems when she’s on a break from her writing. Hence, this is not a typical long poems. She penned it while currently signing her autographs and decided to give it to her publisher. I have not read any of Alice Walker’s work though i kept the color purple on TBR and have not yet get to it. I enjoyed her poems. I enjoyed her topics and the way she constructed her poems. It was simple yet elegant, it was meaningful yet not discombobulated with complicated phrases. As for the interpretation, i believe Alice Walker let us readers to define it on our own and find comfort in her words.
.
.
War grief remains unsold.
Neither the war nor the infant
was sent to save us from our fate.
.
.
To fall is easy.
Even so,
falling will not help.
No gadget in all Creation to distract us forever
from our grief.
We have seen Paradise
over and over
we have lost it
every time.
Is it the same
Paradise
we lose so constantly.
.
.
Earth Mother will win
in the end
absorb us casually
grow perfect creations
from our mistakes.
Her life so long
can start over
over again without us.

[Ananya Ghosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one beautiful, beautiful book!
Before beginning, I read a few reviews here and saw how disappointed people were at this not being a conventional poetry book, or being just a fodder to engage readers and not worth the money and such similar comments.

But I think I feel differently. The first reason might be because I am fond of poetry of consequence, and not form. I do not care if it rhymes or evokes the most beautiful imagery or uses intellectual metaphors, I care most if the poem is speaking to my soul, giving some kind of a message or talking about some similar experience I can relate to. That is poetry to me, not the form, as such.

And there were so many poems that I loved absolutely dearly and have noted them down. I think people should give this a chance and see if it works for them, even though this is not a crowd poser.

[Estela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each night for the past weeks I have been reading a couple poems and stories from the book " A poem Traveled Down My Arm." I have read this book before but every time it becomes better and better. Throughout the book many themes are displayed in the different situations and poems. Alice Walker has a way of making a poem be able to have different perspectives depending on each individual and each emotion humanly possible. This book could be read in just an hour. But, if you sit and ponder at the flowing words Alice Walker says you feel at peace with yourself but still ponder on some things no one will ever know. I have had this book sense I was young but every time I read through it it seems to have a new meaning and deeper meaning. This book grows along with you as you learn and grow as well. Although the book has many different parts and poems to it it does seem to have a universal theme of growth. Life starts and ends with uncertainty and love. Humans may be very separated but we all have grown together and all have at least one thing in common, we have life and grow as we get older and wiser.

One of the poems that I ponder on a lot is this simple one, "We do not know anything, think of that." At first when I just skipped through I did not think much of it. But, now that I truly think about it, its true. We learn all these facts at school but what confirms it? Sure there is history to prove some things but what about nature? How do we know where we came from, why we are here, or what a good or bad thing is. We say we are smarter when we "know" more but what do we truly even know? Only one thing, that we do not know everything. We still need to grow to find out more things to "know". The whole concept could be hard to understand but we all perceive this simple sentence different. I am glad that I found this book to read when I want to think deeper on who and what we are on this plant. I would recommend this to any person that can read, although I do believe that everyone who does read this book should always go back in the future to reread the poems and see how your ideas have changed.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Poem Traveled Down My Arm is not what I would consider a typical book of poetry. Walker explains that this book came about during a time when she had decided to take a break from writing. So the poems and drawings included here have a lightness and spontaneity about them that is refreshing, enlightening and encouraging.

This book doesn't take long to read, but it's the kind of book that makes me want to read it a second or third time to soak up a bit more of its wisdom. As I read, I marked pages with particularly stirring thoughts so that I can go back and copy the quotes into my journal. It's that kind of book.

If you're interested in seeing a different, less serious side of Alice Walker, this book is a good place to start. It's also an interesting mix of words and images that might make a good example for children of how we can see our words differently - and of how we don't have to be world class illustrators to merge the two.

[Brent Ladd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alice Walker is a wise elder who shares her wisdom in both poem and prose. I had heard her speak on television a few times, but her open letter about Howard Zinn at his passing caught my eye, and now I am reading several of her books.

"Choose one country other than your own to love. Keep a finger on its pulse. See yourself in every eye you fear to look into. You live there and die also. Stop running. Earth Mother will win in the end, absorb us casually and grow perfect creations from our mistakes. Her life so long can start over & over again without us. But

can I be
a flower
a weed
waving
&
blowing?

[tomlinton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Alice came up with this
when she was signing books

If a poem tries this with you
kill it

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I fell in love with Alice Walker’s writings after reading “Revolutionary Petunias”. When I found this is at a cute little book store I immediately grabbed it. Thought provoking and puzzling at times the quote on the back of the book hit me in the feels:

“Because you rubbed my shoulder last night, a poem traveled down my arm.”

[Dasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Inflation is prelude”
“Take a risk—grow old”
“Choose one country other than your own to love”
“We are protected by nothing but our thoughts”
“You will carry me to my resting place and I will leave with you”

Is this book a big f-u to her publisher? A manic episode? Or art? I’ll let you be the judge

3.5

[Katy-Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blinked and hit the end cover, but some of the pages, the mic drop few, will stay with me.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

“How to hope
against
the evil
engulfing
us?”

[Cara Byrne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dedicated "To water," this book is comprised of a single long poem accompanying a handful of Walker's simple pencil sketches. Walker explains in her preface that this book emerged after she decided to quit writing; she was asked to autograph hundreds of copies of one of her books, and this monotonous task turned her signature into a giraffe, hair or a sun. This transformation brought her joy and encouraged her to write poems again - which she argues is the most powerful kind of writing.

She states: "I saw that the poems spoke a different poem-language than I usually use, which meant I was somewhere, within myself, new. The drawings reflected the fact that I don't know how to draw, and yet, like folk art all over the world, they had Life. Stuffing them under a cushion because they seemed awkward wouldn't work, because they did have this life; they would peek out. And that, dear reader, is the story. Not all of it, of course. _Because_. It is really a story about exhaustion. About deciding to quit. About attempting to give up (xiii) what it is not in one's power to give up: one's connection to the Source. Being taught this lesson. Ultimately it is a story about Creativity, the force that surges and ebbs in all of us, and links us to the Divine" (xiv).

As an author of several gorgeous picture books illustrated by different artists (including Stefano Vitale), Walker has played with text and picture before, but this effort is very distinct from her works for children. The pencil sketches appear as if they took seconds to compose. And the poem itself is definitely not my favorite of her efforts - as it seems like she often breaks a line in order to fill pages instead of because it is an appropriate/powerful time to do so in the poem.

This brief book does have some lines that I really enjoyed, including "The straight/path/follows/an endless/curve" (52), "Your/suffering/from/witticisms/will/be/endless" (23), and "Don't be/fooled/the/assaulted/child/is/ours//&/always/was" (134). Yet, overall, this work is less inspirational than her earlier collections of poetry.

[Molly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I loved The Color Purple.

I have read two books by Walker that are categorized as poetry, and I wished I hadn't. I have another book of her fiction, and I'm afraid to read it, to become more disappointed.

I wonder how ego works, in some cases. Why one would think this was the right packaging--a hallmark bitty book instead. She wrote in the introduction that these poems came about when she was signing paper to be worked into her books--she wrote how she wouldn't autograph when asked all the time, but she supposed people liked to buy signed books. And she got tired of her name, so she started drawing. Which would be lovely as something next to a signature, but enclosed in a book of little sayings she calls poems?

[Brett Milam · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was quite delightful on this Saturday evening to read a book of poetry in the time it took me to drink a mug of hot tea. After finishing a lengthy book (Greg Iles’ The Quiet Game), it was nice to turn to a medium I’m so fond of, but read far too little of in book form. Tonight, I turned to Alice Walker’s 2003 poetry collection, A Poem Traveled Down My Arm. Essentially, two things happened to Walker to create this collection: a.) she decided she was done writing; and b.) she found that in having to sign her autograph thousands of times in preparation for the release of a previous poetry collection, writing wasn’t done with her. That’s the beauty of creativity and inspiration — it bubbles up when we least expect it and certainly, when we think we can “walk away from it.” Walker also found catharsis of a kind in doodling around her signature, so, this collection also features some of those silly doodles. Which I love! I adore people willing to not take themselves too seriously and be silly. This is Alice Walker, after all, the brilliant Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple. And yet, she embraced her whimsical side. Her collection also reminded me of another recent book I reviewed, Gretchen Rubin’s collection of aphorisms from this year, Secrets of Adulthood. Walker’s poems read like a series of aphorisms largely around anti-war, naturalistic themes, as well as the silly fact of our mortality. Why not be whimsical in the face of such silliness, when you get right down to it?

Like Rubin’s book of aphorisms, I’m going to touch on a few poems that made me think and I’ll provide expanded thoughts. One of the reasons I write is to know what I think!

Maybe my favorite poem of the collection occurs early on:

the right road
disappears
beneath
our feet.

Indeed, sometimes the difficulty with taking the right road in life is being unsure whether you’re on it, hence the road “disappearing” beneath your feet. That’s where moral courage conviction and courage comes in.

As I said, Walker is playful with her collection, and funny at times. This next poem reflects that:

You will
be
tried
in the
fires
of
small talk.

Ah, a baptism we all must endure as adults. The truly amusing fact of this poem is how sneaky small talk actually is in becoming endearing. Arguably, the older one gets, the more one relishes the small talk and misses it in the unyielding silences that replace it.

Similar to the first poem, this next one is about how counterintuitive the dimensions of the right thing are:

The straight
path
follows
an endless
curve.

I interpret this to be inspired by the line from Martin Luther King, Jr. (itself one he brought into the modern context from a 19th century abolitionist), “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. The straight path, a metaphor for doing the right thing, ultimately “curves” endlessly toward justice. The problem is we don’t often have patience for the curve. Understandably for those of us in the present.

Around 14 or 15 years of age, as I was developing my world view, which happens to coincide with all sorts of hormonal angst, I could have used the wisdom of this next poem from Walker:

Do not
cling
to being
lost.

There is a certain martyrdom in being “lost,” i.e., trying to find yourself. We venerate the journey often more than the end, or the “being lost” more than the “being found.” Being lost in this way became a sort of stand-in for a personality. Who are you once you’ve reached the end of that journey? Better to stay in the wilderness, so it appeared.

With this next one, Walker used italics for emphasis.

Civilization
was an
excuse.

I’m not sure what to make of this one, but I must include any I’m still ruminating upon. If I was to delve deep and perhaps extrapolate beyond what Walker intended, there is a sense in which we use the veneer of being a civilized people to obfuscate modern horrors. In other words, we’re a civilized people, ergo, we are not the barbarians of the past. Civilization becomes an excuse to rationalize present barbarism.

Similar in vein to the martyrdom of clinging to being lost, consider:

How long
we have slept
dreaming
of getting
everywhere
some
where
faster.

Why do we want to escape the present so much? Isn’t the future only another present?

Actually, this might be the most resonant poem in the book for me:

What is
the balm
for consciousness?

If only we could find that out. Consciousness is both the eternal curse and blessing of being a human.

Walker’s muse she tried to “retire” or walk away from wrote this poem:

I am not
so easily
killed
as
you
thought:
So firmly
am I
a part
of you.

The muse wants what the muse wants! We serve at its pleasure, not the other way around. Never forget it.

Finally, here is one of the more stark poems from a visual juxtaposition standpoint:

Do not
be
like cows

grazing

watching
the butcher.

Poor cows. Fortunately, humans have that pesky consciousness and the “straight path” and the “right road” available to them the cows do not. All those are metaphors for leading us away from the butcher instead of grazing and watching him.

I’m not sure Walker’s collection of poems will be for everyone. Poetry lovers will want more meat on the bone, as it were (heck of a follow-up analogy after discussing the butcher), and those who don’t care about poetry wouldn’t bother cracking its spine. Nonetheless, I enjoyed these pithy lines and cute doodles. Walker went out on a limb not knowing if it would hold her considerable powers, and if you ask me, it did.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully rich little book which could not possibly disappoint.
Some favorites: "What is a promise if not your hand in mine?"
"Not buying war grief remains unsold."
"Neither the war nor the infant was sent to save us from our fate."
"The living die when dead men fight."
"Take a risk-grow old."
"Choose one country other than your own to love."
"See yourself in every eye you fear to look into."
"You will carry me to my resting place and I will leave with you."

[cj · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a quick (like 15 minutes) kind of poetry book. It isn't the best poetry, or the most thought-provoking, but it is Alice Walker simply being amazing.

The format is reminiscent of a grocery list, complete with doodleson the side. It just makes me happy. I could "bible dip" this continuously.

[Priyank Chauhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because
you rubbed
my shoulder
last night
a poem
travelled down
my arm

It's a breeze of a book. Very short, very personal and very raw poems. The whole book hardly takes half an hour to read, even if you are deliberately slow.

The drawings didn't do anything for me, though I do appreciate that they were there.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in a short, delicious sitting over a cup of coffee in the Portland rain. It reads like a series of sublime aphorisms pieced together with refrigerator magnets. Let us be thankful for Alice Walker.

[Nizzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were only a few lines and one full poem that resonated with me. Most of it felt spontaneous, disjointed and themeless, but I think that was the point. It is unfortunate that I chose this book as an introduction to the author's writings.

[Marilyn]

Not my favorite poetry collection but okay. I did like one quote Ms. Walker wrote: "You cannot eat money and if you could it would make you sick." That one gave me food for thought!

[Luna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Favorite quotes:
"See yourself in every eye you fear to look into.
You live there and die also.
Stop running."

"Buddha helps us up while lying down."

"Unload the useless information
say farewell to comparing mind."

"We do not know anything
think of that."

"No one can end suffering
except through dance."

"Understanding war
I do not harm myself."

"Silent Spring
birds
& even we have lost our voice."

"Buddha nature
not a gift from Buddha
but from nature."

"Fleeting thought
where did you go?
Lost poem."

"There is only kindness
lucid, strong
in the moment
like sunlight penetrating a gloomy glade."

"Now we know why models
we are trained to emulate
look like skeletons."

"Turn to the wind
for help."

"Do not be like cows
grazing
watching the butcher."

"You cannot eat money
& if you could
it would make you sick."

[Kaden Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will give this book 4 stars. Not five because I feel like there was a lack of organization, even though it says that this just thrown together just because she wanted to but I still think it could've been more professional. The book was kinda fun though and that is probably what she was looking for. Not only that but the book is a super quick read, just sit down and read it. And the pictures are fun to glance over as you read the poems, with how things change and she just drew whatever she felt like. And if you want to make it a long intensive read you could like any other book, but I think that the book is just made to be read and enjoyed. If you want a quick fun read this a book to look into.

[keondra freemyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

it is hard to conceive of this as a true collection but there are certainly some gems. poem “21” is powerful and deeply resonates with me. i have always admired the ways in which walker bridges a deep concern and connection to nature with a keen critique of societal ills. walker strikes a fine balance between raising the reader’s awareness and imploring the reader to reflect on their complicity in those ills. somehow walker accomplishes this without being overly didactic. it’s a cute quick read that packs a gentle punch to encourage us all to do better.

[Jason Hood · Rating 4 out of 5]

To have discovered this collection from 2003 in the second day of the third month of 2025 feels both criminally overdue and tenderly predestined. As fluid as they are timely, these poems, today, feel like both premonitions and recollections. “And I will go on blessing old revolutionaries who stand their ground
& small countries that never give up
I will go on believing that even if provoked it is inappropriate to bomb teenagers
& that infants are not to blame for fouling their societies
I will go on believing that love is the future that I deserve
Peace the future
whose time has come.”

[Karen Beculhimer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love her prose and her writing style, but I'm not sure poetry is her strongest suit. I don't know. I have mixed feelings about this. It's a little bit hit or miss, and the drawings are, frankly, terrible (which she at least admitted in the intro).

Overall though I'm giving it 3 stars because her little interjections of philosophy are pretty astounding. A lot of it's very quotable. It's worth the read just for that.

[Benton Laufeysdottir · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s easy to consume this book in one or two sittings but the thoughts contained in the poems will stay with you much longer.

Each poem is short; an average of maybe 10 words a piece but they still manage to get a point across as they dance across the page ... and the doodles are cute

—-

Spoilers / sample poems below

—-

In our
Lifetime
No end
To war

What do birds
Think
Of
Us?

//

You cannot
Eat
Money
&
If you could
It would
Make
You
Sick

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opens with:

Until grief is restored
in the West as
the starting place where
the man and woman
might find peace,
the culture will continue
to abuse and ignore
the power of water,
and in turn will be
fascinated with fire

It ends with:

I will go on believing that love is the future that I deserve
Peace the future whose time has come.

Really enjoyed most of these, but some of them didn't really resonate.

[Adam Bowman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because
you rubbed
my shoulder
last night
a poem
traveled down
my arm.

This was a very unique book- it grew out of the author signing her books and this process transformed into this collection of short poems and drawings. All vertically arranged and short in length, these 150 "pages" can be read in one day with little effort. Themes of war, grief, humanity, and climate change are explored with these short but elegant poems.

[Aries Aster]

I don't think I can rate this book. Sure, the poems were good and the art was simplistic yet effective, but I'm not the target audience for these poems and I haven't lived enough life in order to reflect on this collection in a definitive way. Read it if you want. You won't waste your time, I promise.

[Jenny · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was honestly really let down by this— Alice Walker has such a poetic voice in The Color Purple that I was surprised at these poems. They all kind of felt like random thoughts and ideas rather than actually developed and thought out poems. But then again I’m generally not a fan of short poems so maybe this just wasn’t for me