ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the questions of whether one should use criteria to evaluate Poetic Inquiry, and if so, what criteria would be appropriate for such an evaluation and why? Discussions about criteria for alternative research writing, including Poetic Inquiry, have been occurring for some time. The chapter utilizes phenomenological interviews that explored the meaning and experience of “good poetry”. The found poem, Rigor Du Jour/De Rigueur, ripe with questions of rigor and rigorous questions about qualitative research, introduces an ongoing dialogue about criteria and quality in qualitative work. Poetic traditions and influences, aesthetic concerns, and definitions of what constitutes poetry differ, and often wildly so, demonstrating the quagmire of examining the idea of good and effective poetry. The chapter presents phenomenological interviews with several poets about craft issues, their practice of writing and teaching poetry, and ideas of good and effective poetry.
