Recently, the Painted Brain community center was fortunate enough to welcome Emily Saldivia, a poet who grew up and still resides in the San Fernando Valley. Emily generously volunteered her time to lead a group of Painted Brain contributors and social work interns (myself included) through an introductory poetry workshop.
Following a discussion of identity in our community meeting, Saldivia suggested that workshop participants start by drafting several lines beginning with “My nature is…” and including any details that participants considered important to their identity. She shared her own “My nature” poem, which included components of her identity ranging from “the San Fernando Valley with all its skin burning glory” to “a child in a sandbox; messy and dangerous.” Participants then spent several minutes composing their drafts. The “My nature is” exercise was helpful as it allowed participants the opportunity  to consider various aspects of their identity and express them in different ways: some literal and others figurative, some broad and others specific, some serious and others humorous.
Saldivia invited us to share poems, and several participants volunteered. Some contributors even felt inspired to share poetry they had written before the workshop. Hearing one another’s poems read aloud and seeing how participants viewed and chose to express their identities was a powerful community-building experience. Community members responded to one another’s poems with compliments and comments about lines and themes that resonated with them. This continued to be the case when participants drafted and shared poems based on a second topic Saldivia offered: “a place that is meaningful or special to us”. While the specific locations about which community members chose to write varied greatly, participants could find points of connection and shared emotions within each poem, reinforcing the group’s openness and belonging.
After the workshop, Saldivia was willing to share a few thoughts about her experience:Â
“I am so appreciative of Painted Brain for allowing me the opportunity to work with them and also for them to allow me to demonstrate my passion for poetry,” Saldivia said. “It has been years since I’ve been able to do that, and having an outlet being provided to me is one that I didn’t realize how greatly I needed. Working with Painted Brain was a delight, and while, yes, I was extremely nervous and hesitant at the beginning of the day, by the end of it, I was filled with so much emotion and enthusiasm for the organization itself. I hope to one day return and see what other connections I can make with the community as a whole. There are so many creative outlets left to explore, and I believe that Painted Brain is providing an avenue that I never knew existed before.”
