ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the place of poetry in research and examines the researcher identity. Using the poem Blending in as a reference for analysis, the chapter unpacks the ways in which poetry is utilized to “create moments” that convey the evolving identity development across multiple contexts and complex layers. The chapter considers how poetic forms of writing in research can serve to re-privilege indigenous Maori ways of knowing and being. Poetry as a research tool is highly adaptable and flexible. Poetry is used in a multitude of ways both within and across research, as analysis, as a method, as representative of data, or as the research itself in its entirety. Poetry matters because it serves up the substance of our lives, and becomes more than a mere articulation of experience. Mainly it allows us to see ourselves freshly and keenly. It makes the invisible world visible. The field of poetry provides an exciting space to explore and traverse cross-cultural boundaries.
