This is from our friend Carol Graser:
Dear Friends,
I recently started running poetry workshops at Tryon Girls Center, a New York State juvenile detention center. I’ve been impressed with what fluid, expressive writing they produce and how much they love poetry. These girls have a lot of difficulty in the classroom but they sit attentively through the poetry workshop, are supportive of each others writing and engage in very profound discussions of the poems I bring for them to read. They would benefit greatly from more exposure to poetry but unfortunately, their library is doesn’t provide much.
If some of you would be willing to donate a volume or two of poetry (or any book you feel would be relevant to them), it would go long way to helping these kids. The majority of girls in the Tryon are 15- or 16-years-old, although some are as young as 12. Almost 73 percent are African American or Hispanic, and many come from poorer neighborhoods in New York City. The majority of girls have suffered past physical and sexual abuse, and many need mental health care as well as treatment for drug and alcohol addiction.
You can bring your donations to Caffè Lena on poetry night, Wed. Oct. 1. or contact me at cgraser@nycap.rr.com and we’ll figure something out.
If you are able to help Carol out, please do what you can. This is a great cause and will be a good home for your poetry books.
