“Whispers of outrage, pain, and revolution thread with waves of laughter, wisdom, and generosity.”
—From the Foreword by Michelle Fine, Distinguished Professor, Graduate Center at the City University of New York (CUNY)

“Writing in the Asylum is full of powerful poetry and arresting social criticism.”
—Deborah Stern, Director of Education, Mastery Charter High School Philadelphia

“Every educator, parent, policymaker, and poet needs to read this book.”
—Nancy Larson Shapiro, Director, Teachers and Writers Collaborative

Jennifer McCormick opens a fascinating window on the lives of young women, showing how poetry can create a sense of security and self-esteem in the often sterile, violent, and oppressive environment of an urban high school. The students’ poetry is at once disturbing and beautiful, hopeful and bleak, and McCormick’s depiction of the increasingly institutionalized nature of urban schools is riveting. The author crafts a compelling argument that shows the power of poetry as a response to the depersonalization that students face in many urban high schools, and shows readers how it flourishes both despite and because of the violence and “criminalizing institutional routines” of many public schools.

Jennifer McCormickteaches in the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.