Poetry in research: diverse approaches
In this chapter, we offer an overview of the diverse ways in which poetry is
being used in qualitative inquiry. We seek to illuminate for readers how and why
poetic inquiry has value for such researchers. Illustrative projects and poems are
placed throughout the chapter to help contextualise the literature reviewed. For
example, in the poem above, the first author uses the poetic form to reflect on
and express her motivations for engaging in qualitative research. This poemprovides an embodied demonstration of one of the ways poetry can be a useful
tool for researchers; allowing researchers to express the emotional research
journey through metaphors and images not available to them in traditional academic
language. In this example, poetry functions as a creative fonn of selfreflexivity,
of understanding the self and how this self shapes the interpretation
and construction of knowledge produced in research. However, poetry is used in
diverse ways by qualitative researchers. In poetic inquiry, poems can be a source
of data, a fonn of data, a way of representing complex or even unspeakable
social dilemmas, or a methodology or means through which to link research processes
to research outcomes for transparent, powerful effect. Poetics can be
viewed as a discourse articulating 'the relationship between the creative work
and its critical inputs and outcomes' (Lyall, 2014, p. 134, citing the work of
Lasky, 2013).