EmpowHer Poets
Empowering girls of color to be heard
Empowering girls of color to be heard
EmpowHer Poets is committed to amplifying the voices of girls of color and supporting their well-being, empowerment, and growth. Through poetry, songwriting, and storytelling, we create a nurturing environment where young girls can express themselves freely, build confidence, and form a strong sisterhood. Our mission is to build a community where girls uplift one another, internalize positive and powerful self-narratives, and envision themselves as the empowered leaders the world needs.
Founder, Lead Instructor
Serena Griffin is a 17-year-old Bay Area native and a student at Saint Mary's College High School. Serena has always been passionate about words—whether through poetry, songwriting, or storytelling.
Serena is a published poet, singer, Grammy Museum-trained songwriter, climate activist, advocate for girls' empowerment, big sister at Cinnamongirl Inc., the 2024 Vice Youth Poet Laureate of Berkeley, CA, and 1 of 10 Girls Leading Change Honorees in 2024 by the White House Gender Policy Council and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.
In 2023, Serena founded EmpowHer Poets at Oxford Elementary School, where she works directly with students to help them share their unique voices and experiences, build confidence, and foster sisterhood through creativity.
You can learn more about Serena here.
Program Description
EmpowHer Poets is a free afterschool program for 4th and 5th-grade girls of color. We are dedicated to amplifying the voices of girls of color and supporting their well-being, empowerment, and growth. Through poetry, songwriting, and storytelling, we create a nurturing environment where participants can express themselves freely, build confidence, and develop a strong sense of sisterhood.
Our mission is to cultivate a community where girls of color can embrace their unique experiences, uplift one another, internalize positive and empowered self-narratives, and envision themselves as the leaders the world needs.
EHP Student Poems
Spring
Spring is the time of fun and energy
It is also the time of allergies and hypotheses
It may seem fun but it’s sometimes a scum
So if you just add some sass – and class
You can make it dahs
Buy teddy bears and chocolate for your best friends
Hopefully they like it
But that’s never the end,
So do it all again…
The end!
Music
Music is glare and it’s shiny bright
But if you use it wrong it might give you fright
There’s some squeaks
There’s some pops
There’s some splickity dickity dops
But in the end
There’s always harmony
Deadly sirens can (make you pee) and your ears will bleed
Santa Claus is coming to town
So you better give him a shout
And play your tuba super loud
With a rock and a splash and a crack and a flash
You gotta add a little bit of sass and that’s class
And…
Santa Claus might not come to town
Cause it’s April, figure it out!
Edge of Great
On the edge of great
You never fall
Just let the music catch it all
You sing, you shout, you let it out
You fight, you fall, you crack the code, you crack it all
You tie the strings to make it safe for you
You let it fly
You give a good cry
Time
Time is like a thief
It walks away and comes right back
Time traps, it feels like time is getting slower
Time is like a big pool swimming with numbers
It doesn’t even stop in a crash
It keeps going and going nothing in its way
A black circle hanging in the teachers room
We don’t need them anymore
They feel left out so they walk away without a doubt
They sit there hoping to get a glance but it never happens
It sits there in suspense
Getting bored of its job
Watching all of us play
So they cry, but they always stay
We Are The Change
(featured poem in Cinnamongirl's "I am the Change" Anthology)
Serena Griffin
She walked for 1,037* days with no rest.
In preparation,
She plucked every star from her mind and compiled them until they formed suns.
She transformed them into seeds.
So, for 1,037 days, as her feet grazed every inch of the barren soil that blanketed Earth's surface,
The seeds, birthed from her clever mind, tumbled down into the soil.
As she traversed earth's surface, she kept her eyes forward.
But,
On day 518
She took a look back.
As soon as her head turned
Her eyes met buds transforming into bouquets, stretching out for miles
Girls and women all over basked in it
They adorned themselves with blooms
Their clothes held stains of vibrant hues,
Her seeds seeping through the petals into their skin.
As she looked out on her creation,
The glistening imprint of a tear stained her face,
She thought to herself:
“I am the change.”
She continued to trek on
Dropping seeds for 518 more days
On day 1,037 she took a final look back.
Flowers had sprung up, covering land stretching for miles,
And they flourished.
All thanks to the girls and women,
Whose hands had graciously tilled the soil and poured the water.
Now,
The world was rich with brilliance,
Rich with ideas,
Rich with beauty.
Her eyes gleaming with admiration,
She looked out on the physical manifestation of girls and women,
Filling Earth to the brim with buds of creativity and knowledge.
As she looked out on the creation,
A tear glistening on her cheek,
She thought to herself:
“We are the change.”
*1,037 is approximately the number of days it would take to walk around the entire circumference of the Earth (without rest and a speed of one mile per hour)