BRUNSWICK — Anna McDougal loves to express herself through poetry. Whether she is writing about springtime, her love of cooking or about navigating through — and conquering — life with a disability, it is something therapeutic for her.

McDougal is among a handful of poets from Spindleworks that will be reading poetry at Curtis Memorial Library noon to 1 p.m. Friday as part of National Poetry Month. Spindleworks is a nonprofit arts center for adults with disabilities and a program of the Independence Association whose mission is to help people with disabilities lead fulfilling lives. Part of its mission is to encourage its members in art in all its forms, from painting and fabric arts to acting.

Spindleworks helps people to “reach whatever dreams the might have,” said Brian Braley, associate director. “With their disability, they have a unique voice that nobody else has,” and they help people to creatively express those voices. He said poetry may help their artists take something they may feel self-conscious about and “turn it into their own secret weapon.”

Wayne-based poet David Moreau leads a poetry group on Monday and Tuesday mornings, Braley said, where Spindleworks poets not only work on their own poetry, but also build compilation poems where each person writes a line. Some of these group-effort pieces will be performed Friday, as well as selections from the center’s third volume of poetry, “I Would Hold a Baby Tiger,” which is inspired largely by the natural world and is set for publication this summer.

“I love sharing my love of poetry,” McDougal said. “Everything I like, I write about,” she said, naming the changing of the seasons, skiing, moods and transitions as just a few. 

Melissa Capuano also draws inspiration from the animal world, especially horses. Two of her poems are about riding and grooming horses, she said. Another is about a spider that used to live outside one of the Spindleworks’ windows.

“It relaxes me,” she said of writing poetry, adding that she likes how reading it allows you to “see it in your head.” She said she’s nervous to read her poems in front of people, although she said Moreau has been helping her to feel comfortable in front of an audience.

Poets will also be reading at an open mic night at the library at 6:30 p.m. April 25, when Brunswick celebrates Poem in Your Pocket Day.

hlaclaire@timesrecord.com