Workshop writers present poetry to public at Cultiva reading

Twice a month, Lincoln writers come together to write, critique and bond, forming a unique and powerful community. On Friday, the public will be able to hear them share their work at a reading at Lincoln's Cultiva Coffee Shop.

"If (the attendees) didn't have the workshop, I don't think many of them would even write poetry," said Terrance Oberst, facilitator of the F Street Community Center Writers Workshops. "It helps people with mental problems, with creative thoughts or negative thoughts. It's just a wonderful place to be, to share in each other's creations and to get feedback on it, and to feel comfortable and safe in a good environment."

The workshops began in 1999, when the then-director of Lincoln's Mental Health Center put out a survey to the community to find out what their likes and dislikes were.

"It turns out that everybody wanted something to do creatively," Oberst said. Thus, the Writers Workshop and an art studio were born. The workshop has since moved from the CenterPointe facility to the Campus Recreation Center at 13th and F streets, and it meets the first and third Wednesdays of each month.

While the group began out of a tie to the mental health community, the group is free and open to anyone who wants to join. It is entirely about the love and process of writing.

"It isn't about mental health and mental therapy," Oberst said. "It's about art".

The group is also about honest and tough feedback, which should become obvious in the quality of writers on Friday.

"We're very critical," Oberst said. "That's what people want. People have the option when they come to a workshop either to share their poem without critiquing it or to critique it. And just about everybody wants their poem critiqued."

Friday's reading will feature 8-10 authors, reading mostly poetry, but fiction and flash fiction as well. The styles range from serious to parody.

Each reading also features a guest facilitator, a noted member of the writing community, which has included the likes of Ted Kooser and Mary K. Stillwell in the past. Friday's reading will feature Academy of American Poets Prize winner Sarah McKinstry-Brown, whose poems can be found alongside works by Emily Dickinson and Lord Byron on poetryspeaks.com.

It's her first time working with the F Street Community Center Workshops, but McKinstry-Brown said she admires the unique approach of the group.

"Any workshop that is open to bringing in different facilitators with different visions and voices, is one that I have immense respect for," she said. "A willingness to have one's work read by others and being open to constructive critiques are two of the best things a writer can do for his or her work."

McKinstry-Brown will be reading from her first full-length collection "Cradling Monsoons," which centers on human and family relationships and the ties that exist in those relationships.

Readings like the one at Cultiva are perfect for this spirit of relationships and close communication, since they highlight what the workshop experience is all about.

"I think art is about transforming our personal experiences into universal ones," McKinstry-Brown said. "Art is about communication, and the best way to find out if your writing is communicating the feelings and ideas you intended is by putting the work in front of more eyes and ears."

Oberst has been able to witness the transformations and growth involved in perfecting a piece and overcoming the roadblocks of sharing it in front of an audience.

"I've seen people come from being very nervous, awkward and scared at their first or second readings," he said. "But by the fourth and fifth, they get into a groove where they feel pretty comfortable with the audience and being up in front of someone."

It's a spirit that Friday's readers hope to convey to the audience at Cultiva, and a spirit that Oberst holds dear.

"We all love each other, we're our best critics, and it's just a pleasurable experience to go twice a month to work with friends in the workshop," he said.

Friday's reading is free and takes place at 7 p.m. at Cultiva Coffee Shop, 727 S. 11th St. The eighth edition of the Writers Workshop anthology, "Writers on the Edge," will be on sale, as well as Oberst's newest book of poetry, "SUN." The Writer's Workshop is also open to all that are interested and meets on the first and third Wednesdays of the month from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Rec Center.

cameronmount@dailynebraskan.com