In November, mentee Bre’ann Newsome joined Ana L. Oliveira, President & CEO of the New York Women’s Foundation, on stage at A Starlit Evening at the Waldorf Astoria.
Bre’ann, now in her third year of our Writing & Mentoring Program, read her original poem “She Is” and presented an award to Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation, in front of an audience of supporters of The New York Women’s Foundation, including honorees Carolina Herrera and the Chief Financial Officer of Morgan Stanley, Ruth Porat.
Bre’ann’s introduction and performance left the audience speechless, and Bre’ann herself said that after bemoaning her ballet flats all night, following her performance it felt like she was wearing “five-inch heels”!
In her introduction, Bre’ann said:
“I have attended Girls Write Now since 2011 and I am now a three-year mentee. Girls Write Now has helped me to melt all of my insecurities onto pieces of paper and turn them into finished pieces of confidence. And now I’d like to thank the Ford Foundation, the New York Women’s Foundation, and Girls Write Now for giving me the opportunity to share one of my little pieces of confidence with you tonight.”
She Is
By Bre’ann Newsome
Because she is… flaw-full, is why the sun shines a bit brighter into her window
Because she is taller… her fingers are just much closer to grazing the clouds that she reaches for
Because she is… more crooked than any row of teeth can be, is why she smiles
Because she is… not slender or smooth, she is warm against winter’s breath
It is why she is more jagged than any rock on the ocean floor
And darker than the crevices of unexplored space
Brighter than stars that kiss the sun
More limitless than numbers in the universe
Softer than the cheek of a new born child
Her LIPS are more lopsided than law and her words breathe more LIFE than a million explosions from this sun
And she IS sweet imperfection
And she IS bellow the standards of acceptable And she is asymmetrical Far from equilateral Surprisingly capable
But in no way is she stable
A nameless label
A truth longer and more memorable than any fable
Because she was able
To leap before she could crawl
Yell before she could speak
Carry before she could grasp and she is beautiful
And she is amazing
And SHE breathes life into my veins… because she is glorious
More so than the Phoenix, Cleopatra, and Queen Nefertiti
Because she is glamorous
More so than Marilyn Monroe, Lady Lovelace and Andrej Pejic
More powerful than Zeus, Oedipus, and Gilgamesh
Because she is I and she breathes fire into me
More so than a seething dragon
And she is “I” and “her” and “me” and “they” and WE ARE.