WriteGirl Words Under the Tree

At the annual WriteGirl Skylight Books public reading on Saturday, February 15, approximately 20 teen girls bravely stepped up to the podium to read from their journals and WriteGirl's 12th anthology, "YOU ARE HERE: The WriteGirl Journey."

A captivated crowd heard poems, essays, and short story excerpts about everything from love and self-identity to heartache and the color purple.

The audience also participated in a short writing activity that reflected on the past winter and the imminent spring. The resulting creativity was clearly inspired by the girls' words. Here are just a few of the responses -

Winter was...filled with beautiful, deleightful kindergarten faces writing words for the first time.

Spring will be...filled with beautiful wildflowers and herbs in my raised beds.

~ * ~

Winter was...short - dead, cold, and lonely, rarely visited by sunlight.

Spring will be...better - though it began frozen, love will thaw and bring new life and happiness and put springs in my steps.

~ * ~

Winter was... dark and dingy water stingy ungrateful, tentative, as winter is.

Spring will be... bright and more full water hopeful grateful, promising, as spring is.

Many thanks to Skylight Books for hosting this annual WriteGirl tradition!