“Freedom’s Just Another Word for Nothin’ Left to Lose”: The Power of Poetry for Young, Nomadic Women of the Streets

Abstract

This article presents a street educator's experience of a poetry cooperative with female street youths as an example of performance pedagogy. Poetic voices of members of the cooperative are used to illustrate the pages of this special issue of CSCM in the text of this article and as they are scattered through the pagesof this special issue like graffiti on tunnel walls. In a coda to the article, the poetry collaborative is shown to be the catalyst for At Home At School (AHAS), a larger, ongoing performance pedagogy curriculum in use with homeless children and youths.