Film > This Place Called Poetry

"I was 18 years old and eight months pregnant when WritersCorps first came to the Center for Young Women's Development. We were pretty feisty, hard-core girls at the time -- many of us had already left high school; I hadn't graduated yet. I didn't consider myself a poet.

I remember the first day. There was a fantastic woman named Elizabeth, who had a great laugh. She was our WritersCorps teacher. She told us just to write. There were no rules, no periods, no grammar, no spelling. That was the first time I'd ever abandoned my fear of writing." -- Lateefah

From Lateefah's poem "I Am"

I am struggling,
hungry at times
striving for my own space.

I am a winner who continues to lose.