In the two high school writing communities described in this article, literacy is strategic, purposeful, and always linked to meaning. The foundation for literate practices in these communities is Freirian in nature. Teachers, in a very serious way, work to liberate language and prepare students to be in control of words; they do this by allowing students to be co-constructors of their learning community. The aim of this article is to unpack the literacy practices of these two writing communities and is guided by the following research questions: (1) How is literacy defined in these writing communities?; (2) What are the skills that teachers and students value?; (3) What are the practices of the teachers and the students in these two writing communities?; and (4) What are the ways in which reading and writing are partnered with speaking and "doing?" It provides a theoretical framework for viewing such communities while offering findings from two classroom-based Participatory Literacy Communities (PLCs) that use spoken word poetry, not as a strategy but as a movement and a way of life for students. (Contains 3 notes.)