ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests two ways for framing and thinking about poetic inquiry. These are as “found poetry”, when words are extracted from transcripts and shaped into poetic form, and as “generated”, or more autobiographical poetry, when the researchers use their own words to share understandings of their own and/or others' experiences. Found and generated poetry can also be classified as either narrative, poetry that tells a story, or lyric poetry, the goal of which is to “stress moments of subjective feeling and emotion in a short space”. The chapter discusses, with examples, how found poetry can be used to portray salience and poignancy, how generated poetry can be used as an effective reflexive strategy, and how poetry clusters around a particular topic or theme can tease out nuances that give greater depth to the work. Finally, it discusses the criticisms of poetic inquiry, issues of quality, and when and where poetic inquiry might/should be used.
