Our social worker, Cathy, started a weekly session she calls "PoetTea." She got some elegant teapots and cups and saucers, and a group of ten to fifteen women gather every Monday afternoon to write poetry and read it to each other. They sometimes do readings for the rest of us volunteers, and they publish a book of poetry every year.

The participants are an interesting mix. One is the best-known storyteller in Sacramento. Another is a tall, elegant, willowy woman near seventy who dances as she recites her poetry. Others are homeless and barely literate, and some are the "working poor." Their gathering is a sacred time. Sometimes, I try to do my maintenance work within earshot so I can eavesdrop on this wonderful event. The poem above is unusually powerful, but our poets have written many things that have moved me to tears. And they have such a wonderful time doing all this.

-Joe, privileged to be a man working at a women's center-