The second semester of my senior year has shot my memory. So that’smy excuse for barely remembering the WriteGirl “Poetry Workshop” held Saturday, February 23 at the Expo Center. I do remember snippets: the daguerreotype of Emily Dickinson on the Writer’s Altar poster,presented by a mentor and her mentee; eating several delicious noodle-related casseroles at lunch; and, listening to three out of seven “poetry muses” recite their work before admiring crowds. Cassandra Love was my favorite of those three. She writes raw, realistic poetry about her teenage years. She demonstrated that it’s admirable and brave to share even your painful moments through writing.

Cecilia Woloch was a special guest lecturer toward the end of the workshop—interesting and articulate. I wished she could have spoken longer. Poet RoniGirl was another muse I heard recite; I liked her pop culture references to singers of past eras. Sholeh Wolpe, Gail Wronsky, Ashaki Jackson, and WriteGirl Executive Director Keren Taylor were also acting as muses. I was sad that I didn’t have time to hear all of them.

Every WriteGirl event workshop ends with a reading. This month someone had the brilliant idea of setting up the reading as an Open Mike Afternoon at WriteGirl Café. It seemed like a real poetry reading, with live drumming, an MC, and a cushioned seating area.

I’ve read only once or twice in my year plus at WriteGirl. I onlysigned up to read this time because I didn’t realize I was supposed to read poetry that very day. Unprepared, I read an excerpt from a nonfiction piece I’d written during the workshop. The mentors – warm, encouraging, smart women who really know how to make girls feel good about themselves and their accomplishments – are a big reason WriteGirl is special to me, and they combined with the supportive mentees to be a great audience, so I felt pretty good about reading.

I realized after I’d read that reading isn’t all that scary. I might even be willing to try again – this time with a little more confidence. Reading also made me want to polish my first drafts up directly after writing them so I have something really good ready to go.

-– Nell G., age 18