The Centre for Poetics and Justice

The Centre for Poetics and Justice (CPJ) is a community organisation based in Melbourne, Australia, dedicated to the integration of poetics and social transformation. The Major focus of CPJ is the running of spoken word workshops (Emerging Voices) within:
• Youth Centres
• Community Centres
• Indigenous Communities/schools
• Juvenile detention Centres
• Schools

The focus of these workshops is the

use of Performance Poetry as a mode of expression for young people. The use of this artistic form enables them to engage in understanding and articulating their own lives and their social existence as well as developing their literary and artistic skills. With a youth-centred, critical Pedagogy these workshops integrate literary skills, Spoken word, youth development and civic engagement and are facilitated by professional, Spoken Word Poets and educators who are there to create a safe space for adolescence to understand themselves and their world through the poetry medium. The progression of the workshops seeks to move students from the writing of poetry to the performing of poetry and from poetry as self-reflection to poetry as social engagement.