Found Poetry:
Creating Space for Imaginative Arts-Based Literacy Research Writing
Lisa Patrick
1
Introduction
The purpose of this theoretical position paper is to argue for the inclusion of
poetry in social science research writing. The unconventional use of poetry in research
writing challenges the traditionally accepted role prose plays in academic writing as “the
sole legitimate carrier of knowledge” (Richardson, 2002, p. 877). Research poetry
troubles the dichotomy between science and art, short circuiting traditional distinctions
between academic and poetic language (Jones, 1990). When arts-based researchers
experiment with artistic forms of writing, such as poetry, they resist limitations imposed
by “the hegemony of research discourse” (Finley, S., 2003, p. 294). Creating space for
the poetic arts within the academy confronts conventionally accepted modes of research
writing and provides access to the creative and imaginative discourse of poetry.
Background
Qualitative arts-based researchers have begun to expand the creative boundaries
of scientific research, especially within the field of social science. According to
Cahnmann-Taylor (2008), over the past few decades: “Assumptions about what counts as
knowledge and the nature of research [in education] have dramatically changed” (p. 3).
This change has been brought about in part by researchers problematizing the division
between art and science through their use of arts-based research tools, such as poetry.
Washington (2009) asserts that using poetry in qualitative research “is as much an art as
it is research” (p. 326). Utilizing a poetic form of written expression may support scholars
as they examine and make meaning of the research experience (Burchell, 2010).
2
Definition of Terms
Research poetry. In general terms, research poetry is written from and about
research subjects and data. Research poets use the art of poetry to explore and explicate
the lived experiences of their study participants. Furman, Langer, Davis, Gallardo, and
Kulkarni (2007) differentiate between research poems and literary poems: While the
research poet may borrow from the poetic methods used by literary poets, the academic
poet’s express purpose is to represent data in ways that stay true to the essence of the
participant experience being represented. Saunders (2003) helps illuminate the
mechanism by which research poetry works: The “meaning and significance are in the
language rather than conveyed through it,” as in literary poetry (p. 177, emphasis added).
Research poetry offers arts-based scholars a unique form for analyzing and representing
participants’ lived experiences, as evidenced in the academic work of poetic pioneers
such as Carr (2003), Furman (2005), Poindexter (1997), and Richardson (1994-1995).
Research found poetry. Academic poets utilize a variety of poetic forms in their
research poetry, one of which is the found poem: “Found poems take existing texts and
refashion them, reorder them, and present them as poems” (Poets.org, Found Poem, para.
1). The research found poem is used as a tool to investigate (Wells, 2003) and represent
(Furman, Lietz, & Langer, 2006) the lived experience of study participants. Words for a
research found poem are taken directly from the qualitative data, usually in the form of
participant interviews. Arts-based scholars who represent data in this manner draw upon
“the literary tradition of found poetry” (Prendergast, 2009b, p. 541). Prendergast (2004b)
differentiates between original research poetry, which is “researcher-voiced” and found
poetry, which is “participant-voiced” (p. 74).
3
Definition of Terms: A Found Poem
Research poets
refashion and reorder data,
presenting it as a poem…
crafting original poetry
in the voice of the researcher,
crafting found poetry
in the voice of the participant.
Historical Context
One of the earliest examples of research poetry is located in the work of
anthropologist Toni Flores (1982), who used poetry as part of her reflexivity process
(Butler-Kisber, 2010). Sociologist Laurel Richardson (1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998,
1999, 2000a, 2000b, 2000c, 2002, 2005) is one of the original and most prolific of the
original arts-based practitioners. Her ground-breaking work helped introduce poetry into
the field of qualitative research (Butler-Kisber, 2010). Richardson (1992) is credited with
introducing the specific form of found poetry into social science research (Butler-Kisber,
2005, 2010). Other early practitioners include Elliot Eisner (1981, 1997a, 1997b) and
Norman Denzin (1996, 1997, 2003). A number of scholars have joined the ranks of these
early post-modern researchers: Cahnmann-Taylor (2003, 2009); Faulkner (2005); Furman
(2004a); Poindexter (2002b); and Prendergast (2003, 2004a, 2007, 2009a).
Recently, a number of arts-based researchers have taken up the specific form of
found poetry as an inquiry tool (Burdick, 2011; Finley, 2000; Norum, 2000; Poindexter,
2006; Pryer, 2005, 2007; and Sullivan, 2000a). Research found poetry has also found its
way into graduate research writing. A number of graduate researchers in the social
4
sciences have written found poems crafted from their dissertation data sources (Atkins,
2011; Boyle, 2011; Klehr, 2009; Little, 2011; Schendel, 2009; Slotnick, 2010; Stewart,
2003; Swain, 2011), as well as masters theses (Wendell McIntyre, 2012). Academic
journals such as Qualitative Inquiry (Bassett, 2012; Carroll et al., 2011; Emmett, Dobbs,
Williams, & Daaleman, 2011) and the Journal of Poetry Therapy (Furman et al., 2010;
Langer & Furman, 2004b; Sjollema, Hordyk, Walsh, Hanley, & Ives, 2012) create space
for arts-based research poetry.
Historical Context: A Found Poem
Poetry is a
tool of inquiry
with artistic sensibilities
for processing data.
Toni Flores introduced research poetry, and
Laurel Richardson introduced found poetry
to qualitative social science research.
Creating Space for Poetry in Research Writing
A growing number of arts-based researchers are calling for the expansion of how
research is defined in order to create space for aesthetic activity (Finley & Knowles,
1995). Sullivan (2000b) entreats researchers not to overlook the potential role the artist
may play alongside the traditional role of scientist in education research. Brady (2004)
coined the term “artful-science” to describe ethnographic research that combines
“humanistic and scientific design” (p. 622, emphasis in original). Experimenting with
scientific and artistic language puts research poets at the intersection of critical and
creative discourses (Leggo, 2008, 2009). Found data poems fuse art and science; the
artistry of the poem grows directly out of the scientific material.
5
The Rewards of Research Poetry
Poetry is an artistic tool that is utilized by arts-based scholars throughout the
process of qualitative inquiry (Cahnmann-Taylor & Siegesmund, 2008; Furman, 2005).
According to M. Finley (2003), found poetry is used by qualitative researchers in every
stage of the research process: the literature review (Prendergast, 2006); anthropological
and sociological field work (Flores, 1982; Kusserow, 2008; McConochie, 1986; Prattis
1985; Richardson, 1998); and data analysis and representation (Bhattacharya, 2008;
Commeyras & Montsi, 2000; Meyer, 2008). Each phase of the social science research
process, from data collection to data analysis to data representation, can benefit from the
researcher’s “own artistic sensibilities” (Chappell & Cahnmann-Taylor, 2013, p. 257).
While research poets can make use of poetry across the research process, this theoretical
position paper focuses specifically on the area of research methodology. Research poetry
provides academic poets with an alternative means for both analyzing and representing
qualitative data (Burdick, 2011; Furman, Langer, & Taylor, 2010).
The Rewards of Research Poetry: A Found Poem
Poetry provides a place for artistic researchers
to experiment.
To experiment
with creative and critical discourses.
With creative and critical discourses
work with data grows alternative directions.
Work with data grows alternative directions
at the intersection of art and science.
At the intersection of art and science
poetry provides a place for artistic researchers.
6
Analysis of data. Research is awash with data, and for qualitative researchers, the
greater part of this data takes the form of words. Wading through this sea of words can be
an overwhelming task. Poetry offers arts-based scholars a solution to this challenge, since
words are the poet’s medium (Boyd, 1973). The poetic element of compression offers
researchers a robust tool for reducing data. Compression is “the art of conveying much
with few words,” and it is “one of poetry’s signatures…every word counts and must be
both precise and emotionally alive” (Cohen, 2009, p. 9). Just as the poet must decide on
what words are essential in a poem, so too the researcher must decide on what is essential
in the data; thus, the research poem bridges both endeavors through the tool of
compression (Furman, 2006a; Langer & Furman, 2004a). Prendergast (2006) describes
the process of sifting through qualitative data as “intuitively sorting out words, phrases,
sentences, and passages that synthesize meaning from the prose in light of a particular
research question” (p. 370). Research poets follow a similar sifting process when creating
a found data poem: “In a poem, hours may be compressed into a line, monumental life
experiences compressed onto a page” (Sullivan, 2005, p. 28). Poetry lends qualitative
researchers, who must find ways of compressing vast amounts of data, a powerful
instrument of data refinement (Szto, Furman, & Langer, 2005).
Crafting poetry from research data holds implications for data analysis. Rendering
data poetically may uncover and illuminate research findings (de Beer, 2003; Poindexter,
2002a; Willis, 2002). Incorporating poetry into academic writing provides an artistic
window through which researchers may view qualitative data (Lyons, 2008). The poetic
writing process provides the researcher with an “artist’s eye” (Finley & Knowles, 1995,
p. 140), which may be used to “see beyond the veil of data” (Richardson, 1993, p. 702),
7
yielding “new and important insights” (Butler-Kisber, 2002, p. 235). Integrating art with
science invites “binocular vision,” which helps to prevent “methodological monism”
(Eisner, 1981, p. 9). Examining findings through the dual lenses of art and science allows
the researcher to see and know more deeply, which may lead to alternative ways of
understanding (Carroll et al., 2011; Richardson, 2000b, 2000c; Sullivan, 2005).
Data Analysis: A Found Poem
Analyze the data,
render it poetically.
Uncover and illuminate
research findings.
Stay faithful to the data,
maintaining integrity.
Representation of data. Poetry is a methodological tool taken up by arts-based
researchers to represent the lived experiences of their study participants (Furman et al.,
2006; Meyer, 2008; Smith, 1999). The fundamental goal of research poetry is to
illuminate the truth of participant experience (Furman, Enterline, Thompson, & Shukraft,
2012). “Words abstract meaning from experience” (Hermsen, 2009, p. xx), and research
found poets use the very words of the participants themselves to communicate the
meaning of their lived experience (Butler-Kisber, 2002). As Strate and Winslow (2010)
remind us:
We would do well to remember that being human is bound up inextricably
with language, as it enables us to transcend time and space; and that
poetry, as the highest form of language, is the medium that makes us the
most human of all. (p. 437)
8
Found poetry invites the qualitative researcher to capture and preserve the original
words of the study participants. This process may support the researcher in staying
“faithful to the data” (Szto et al., 2005, p. 145), helping to maintain the integrity of data
analysis and interpretation (Furman et al., 2010; Sullivan, 2005). As Richardson (2000c)
explains: “The ‘worded world’ never accurately, precisely, completely captures the
studied world,” but perhaps found poetry, in taking its words directly from the studied
world, might come close (p. 923). When utilized as a method of arts-based research,
found poetry provides an expressive form with which to represent participant experience.
Data Representation: A Found Poem
Research found poetry:
A tool of words
for abstracting meaning from experience,
for representing the lived experiences of
study participants.
Reception of data. Research poetry has the potential to impact the vitality of
research writing. The way in which data are represented can influence readers’ reception
of that data: “Form matters. How we represent data on the page matters” (Norum, 2000,
p. 249). The choice to include aesthetic and artistic forms of representation creates spaces
and places within the research writing (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997; Norum,
2000) for a wider audience (Cahnmann, 2003; Cahnmann-Taylor, 2008; Hill, 2005;
Prendergast, 2004b). Richardson (1994) maintains that qualitative research is meant to be
read; therefore, she charges scholars with the creation of vital texts. The research poem is
one form of aesthetic representation that may help to enliven scholarly texts (Furman,
2006b). Arranging emotive passages in a poetic form creates a research text that is both
compact and evocative (Furman, Collins, Langer, & Bruce, 2006). Through the poetic
9
elements of compression and expression, research poetry furnishes a promising solution
to Richardson’s (1994) decree for vital research texts.
In terms of compression, poetry’s capacity for communicating with fewer words
creates research texts that may be more consumable for the reader than lengthier prose
forms of data representation (Furman, 2006a; Furman et al., 2006; Furman et al., 2010).
Found data poems highlight the essence of the story told by data (Wiggins, 2011).
Lahman et al. (2011) theorize about the mechanism by which compression influences
response to data: “Perhaps research poets listen for a poem to tell a story – this whittling
away of words to the heart of the matter delivers a powerful message that may equally
intrigue and incite” (p. 894, emphasis in original). The compressed nature of research
poetry lends itself to communicating study findings in virtually all fields of qualitative
study (Sullivan, 2005).
In terms of expression, poetry’s capacity for communicating the emotion of
participant experience creates research texts that may increase their accessibility over
more scientific and sanitized forms of data representation. One of the poet’s gifts is the
ability to tune into words that resonate with experience (Hermsen, 2009). Research poets
search for these charged words in the data of human experience and use them to
artistically construct meaning out of qualitative data (Leggo, 2005). Abercrombie (1926),
a poet and poetry theorist, elucidates: Poetry “does not merely tell what a man has
experienced, but it makes his very experience itself live again in our minds by means of
the incantation of its language” (Stenberg, 1929, p. 111). Using the actual words of a
participant to express experience enables the poet to penetrate “the essence” (Furman et
al., 2006, p. 2) or “heart” of such human experience (Luce-Kapler, 2009, p. 78). Research
10
poetry induces such experiences to “transcend the narrative text they originated in”
(Norum, 2000, p. 247). Poetry’s capacity to express emotion is clearly evident in
Hartnett’s (2003) prison poems, which merge the “evidence-gathering force of
scholarship with the emotion-producing force of poetry” (p. 1). An increasing number of
qualitative researchers, such as Issac (2011), are turning to the poetic form as an artistic
means of representing participants’ lived experiences in a “succinct, powerful, and
emotionally poignant way” (p. 447).
Research poetry’s potential for impacting the manner in which academic writing
is received is reflected in the experience of three research poets. When Poindexter
(2002a) shares poetry crafted from interview data with attendees of conferences and
workshops, her “listeners and readers tend to be moved by their simplicity and power” (p.
70). When Commeyras shares her data poems with teachers, she finds that the poems
“spark a more profound response” than when she presents data analyses in more
conventional formats (Commeyras & Montsi, 2000). Isaac (2011) is a biomedical
qualitative researcher who poetically represents her data analysis of medical students’
performance evaluations. Isaac’s research poetry “illustrates the author’s emotion to the
audience after grappling with disturbing results from the data analysis” (p. 447, emphasis
added). In the service of making their work “more accessible, empathetic, evocative, and
ethical,” qualitative researchers may wish to draw upon arts-based practices (ButlerKisber et al., 2002-2003). As such, poetically representing data creates alternative
pathways for aesthetically communicating findings.
11
Data Reception: A Found Poem
Form matters.
Research poetry influences the
representation and reception of qualitative data.
Form matters.
Research poetry impacts the
readability and accessibility of academic writing.
Form matters.
Research poetry creates
aesthetic and artistic spaces and places for audiences.
The Risks of Research Poetry
Although research poetry holds promise for the analysis and representation of
data, as well as reaching and appealing to a wider audience of readers, blending art with
science is not without risk. Willis (2002) found that the poetic components of his research
text received a more critical reaction than did the prose portions. He reflects: “It was
apparent that one took the poetic path at one’s peril” (p. 11). Kusserow (2008) kept her
research poetry hidden from her anthropology professors and colleagues in her
unwillingness to “cross any lines or blur any boundaries” (p. 74). A number of artistic
researchers speculate as to why poetic representation may result in criticism. Lahman et
al. (2011) caution that those readers of research who are unfamiliar with poetry, or who
may have had negative experiences with poetry, might find research poetry inaccessible
or alienating. Readers approach research texts with set expectations, and if these
expectations are disrupted by nontraditional formats, the experience may negatively
impact readers’ engagement with such texts (Nicol, 2008). For example, Harnett (2003)
believes that readers find his investigative poems difficult to comprehend because “they
so actively refuse to fit into traditional genres of textual production” (p. 2). Sullivan
12
(2000b) contends that members of the academic community reject aesthetic forms of
knowledge representation because they have not yet learned how to read these artistic
forms. She suggests that members must become literate in poetic forms if they are to be
accepted in the academy as legitimate representations of knowledge.
The inclusion of research poetry in scholarly writing is contested (Kusserow,
2008; Poindexter, 2002a; Slattery, 2003); therefore, researchers who choose to use
alternative forms of data representation must explicate how these forms contribute to
their research goals (Cahnmann-Taylor, 2008; Faulkner, 2007; Percer, 2002). It is
incumbent upon research poets to make their intentions clear around the role of poetry in
their academic endeavors: If one makes an “excursion to the edges of what is legitimized
in the academy,” then one must substantiate that journey (Eisner, 1997b, p. 6). Despite
the risks posed to arts-based researchers, Cahnmann-Taylor and Siegesmund (2008)
argue that art should play an integral role in research methodology. Indeed, CahnmannTaylor (2008) challenges qualitative researchers to experiment with forms of arts-based
inquiry for the sake of scholarship, since more researchers actually write about criteria for
such research than actually produce the artistic forms themselves.
The Risks of Research Poetry: A Found Poem
Research poetry
is risky…
criticized and contested.
For the sake of
art and scholarship,
research poets
challenge the academy.
13
Dissertation Study
I identify as a research poet. In particular, I am a writer of found poetry composed
from my qualitative research data. I first adopted the positionality of artful scientist in my
dissertation research. I used the words of my study participants to write found data poems
in order to analyze and represent the data, seeking congruence across multiple forms of
data analysis and representation. Employing a process of mindful poem-shaping acted
simultaneously as both interpretation and illustration of the significant themes in the
research data (Sullivan, 2000b). Composing research found poetry integrates my research
self with my poet self (Richardson, 1992). I am a poet and a researcher: My poetry
informs my research, and my research informs my poetry (Leggo, 2005).
The purpose of my qualitative classroom-based dissertation study was to examine
what happened when prospective teachers wrote found poetry using young adult
literature. In this study, the participants wrote found poems using words from a novel of
their choice that they had read for the teacher researcher’s course on young adult
literature at a major Midwest university. Found poetry was investigated as a means for:
1) supporting novice poets in their writing efforts; 2) readers in their transactional
relationships with texts; and 3) prospective teachers in their confidence and attitudes
toward their future teaching of poetry writing. The primary data collected for the
dissertation consisted of an extensive in-class written reflection over the found poetry
writing project. Overall, the results of the study indicated that the found poetry
experience supported the writing efforts of the novice poets; transformed the nature of the
readers’ transactional relationships with texts; and positively impacted the prospective
teachers’ confidence and attitudes toward teaching poetry writing.
14
Attride-Stirling’s (2001) thematic networks tool was used to analyze and interpret
the data. This functional tool can aid qualitative researchers in both conducting and
organizing thematic analyses. According to Attride-Stirling, constructing a thematic
network involves mapping out three classes of themes. First, Basic Themes are identified,
which are simple principles characterized by the data. Next, similar categories of Basic
Themes are clustered together into Organizing Themes. Finally, these Organizing
Themes are grouped together into a single Global Theme. Global Themes are “superordinate themes that encompass the principal metaphors in the data as a whole” (p. 389).
Each Global Theme, along with its accompanying Organizing and Basic Themes,
constitutes a thematic network. Once a thematic network is constructed, it serves as a tool
with which to organize and illustrate the data analysis and interpretation. Thematic
networks are represented graphically as webs, providing the qualitative researcher with a
visual representation of the key patterns found in the data. Six discrete thematic networks
were constructed from the results of the data analysis, yielding two networks for each of
the three major research questions. I wrote 30 found poems from the data; each served to
illuminate and represent the significant themes unearthed in the process of data analysis.
Poetic Self-Identity: A Found Poem
I am a research poet,
composing found poetry
from qualitative data.
Seeking congruence across
multiple forms of data analysis
and data representation…
I mindfully shape poems,
interpreting and illustrating
the significant themes in data.
15
Dissertation Methodology
I used the found poetry writing process to support the process of data
crystallization. Just as literary poets use language to illuminate and crystallize life
experience (Abercrombie, 1926; Gannon, 2001; McKim & Steinbergh, 1983; Willis,
2002), so too, research poets use language to illuminate and crystallize participant
experience (Furman et al., 2007). Butler-Kisber et al. (2002-2003) reflect on how their
experimentation with “artful analytic approaches” to data analysis and representation
enhanced the trustworthiness of their qualitative research: “We were able to see and show
our work in new ways, and from different perspectives. We were also pushed to be more
specific and transparent in explaining our work to others. We became more aware,
reflective and accountable” (p. 159-160).
Furman et al. (2006) challenge the research poet with the task of explaining her
creative methods. In light of this admonition, I consider it prudent to make my artistic
choices transparent (Butler-Kisber, 2010; Eisner, 1997b; Walsh, 2006). Therefore, I
include an empirical example of a found data poem from chapter four of my dissertation
(Patrick, 2013), along with a detailed description of the steps followed to create this
poem. The found poem, Poetry’s Power, represents themes derived from the data with
regard to how the process of writing a found poem from a young adult novel impacted the
participants’ relationship with the text that they used to write their found poem.
Poetic methodology. With regard to my poetic writing process, two questions are
posed and answered. The first question asked is: What process was followed to create the
found data poem? Initially, I read back through the raw data, as well as the results of the
thematic analysis, in order to refresh my memory. Then, I mined the data in search of
16
“nuggets,” highlighting those representative words and phrases that illustrated key
thematic patterns (Butler-Kisber, 2002; Furman et al., 2006; Meyer, 2008; Walsh, 2006;
Wiggins, 2011). I transcribed the identified words into a Microsoft Word document.
Next, I began the iterative practice of combining and moving around words, all the while
paying close attention to poetic devices such as imagery, rhythm, repetition, and the use
of space. I read each incantation of the poem aloud, striving for the perfect placement of
words and line breaks in the effort to “get at the essence” of what I was attempting to
recount in the data (Butler-Kisber, 2005, p. 97). Finally, I stepped away from the poem.
Returning with fresh eyes resulted in the revision of three stanzas. Like Butler-Kisber,
my poetic writing process was discursive rather than linear, yielding an “embodied form
of text that represents feelings and essences expressed in the poetic form” (p. 97).
The second question asked with regard to my poetic writing process is: What can
poetry accomplish better than prose? Or, what is known in poetry that is unknown in
prose (Eisner, 1997b; Richardson, 2000c)? The poetic process blends the science of
thematic analysis with the art of poetry writing (Furman et al., 2010). This blended
writing process serves to illuminate themes that may be missed in more traditional forms
of data analysis and representation. In writing about the figure a poem makes, Robert
Frost (1967) observes: “For me the initial delight is in the surprise of remembering
something I didn’t know I knew” (p. vi). The poetic element of compression aids the
qualitative arts-based researcher in reducing data, which contributes to the process of
thematic illumination (Furman et al., 2006). Writing poems as part of the “interpretive act
of theme-building” highlights patterns in the data that otherwise might remain hidden
among the verbosity of prose (Furman et al., 2010, p. 70). For example, the found data
17
poem below contains 48 words (50 including the title), which was condensed down from
a data segment containing 703 words written by 16 respondents. Consequently, poetic
compression provides the research poet with an artistic tool with which to unveil essential
thematic patterns buried beneath the weight of words in qualitative data.
Souter (2005) included a portion of her transcribed interview to help illustrate her
poetic writing process. Likewise, I have included the written reflections of the
dissertation study participants that served as the source of words for the sample found
data poem above. The words “found” for the poem are underlined, providing a visible
link between the raw data and the found data poem. While common words, such as
conjunctions, have also been underlined in order to document that every word from the
poem is represented in the data, these words carry no significant thematic meaning.
Poetry’s power lies in its very personal character. Found poems allow the
reader to take the text and experience it on a personal level inherent in
poetry.
It made me go back through the book and look at the character and the
character’s thoughts. After pulling text from the book and putting it all
together I was surprised with what I came up with and I was able to see
the character in a new way.
The process of writing the found poem impacted my relationship with the
text because I had to dig back into the text to think about themes because
that was the focus I wanted in my poem.
I enjoyed reading the book and didn’t want it to end. Creating the poem
gave me another reason to dive back into the book.
I already had a relationship after my first read. However, after reading it
again, the thoughts and feelings I had during certain portions of the book
deepened and were speculated. I questioned how I read it the first time,
and then returned to those portions and thought about my reading
experience again, which strengthened my relationship with the text.
The poem allowed me to revisit how the book talked about truth, and how
each character handled the same truth – and made it more real to me. It
18
reinforced the plot points and important features I had read, which helped
me to understand.
I found greater depths in the character I chose to write my [tense changed
to “your” in found poem for poetic purposes] found poem about. The
character already intrigued me, but by giving him a second look, I had a
better idea of how exactly he felt, or perhaps didn’t feel.
When writing the found poem, I went back and reread parts of the novel
that most impacted me. It was great to re-engage in this experience and
relive the most profound aspects of the book. When writing the actual
poem out of selected phrases, I found a new meaning or a new dimension
to the text I already loved. I was able to take on a new perspective and
look at the same text from another angle.
It allowed me to better understand the relationship between the two
characters that I was trying to illustrate with the poetry. As I searched, my
initial idea for the poem changed and developed into a dual-voice poem,
reflecting the love and friendship between two characters. I would not
have realized the depth of their relationship had I not worked to find it
through the found poetry.
The found poem made me spend more time with the text and really think
about the character who I had decided to write about.
It helped me to revisit the text and see deeper into it. It allowed me to
merge my own creativity with the author’s vision for the book. It also
made me feel imaginative and better understand the text than if I were to
write a bland paper.
I found it [writing a found poem] enriched my understanding and caused
me to think critically and creatively about the text. I drew a new
understanding from the text through this process.
It did because it forced me to go back through the book. I chose a specific
relationship in the book that I felt a connection with and in searching
through, I discovered way more on the relationship than I ever thought
there was. It made my connection with the relationship even stronger.
By taking the voice of the characters in the story in order to write the
poem, I was able to learn more from it and empathize with the characters
in it over the events that occurred. I definitely feel like I have a deeper
relationship with the text after writing the found poem…I also was more
aware at how artistic and beautiful the text was.
19
I was able to relate more to the character whose voice I took on in my
poem. I was able to get to know her better on a deeper level.
It was more of a bond between the book and I. When I remember the book I will
remember the poem. (Patrick, 2013, p. 150-151)
Found data poem.
Poetry’s Power
Go back
Dig
Dive
Back into questions
And speculations
Revisit
Reread
Relive
Relationships and
Friendships
Spend a second
Seeing another angle
Of surprise
Find a
New
Way
To imagine
Critical dimensions
Discover
Beautiful
Art
Take on a voice
Take on a vision
Write the truth
Of your
Bond
(Patrick, 2013, p. 149)
20
Thematic illumination. Poetic elements offer the research poet tools with which
to illuminate and depict themes uncovered in the data (Carr, 2003). Using the poetic
devices of stanza, line breaks and white space to arrange data serves to unearth essential
themes (Furman, 2006a). Creating a cluster of poems around a particular theme expresses
“a range of subtle nuances about a topic,” exposing “dimensions of a theme that might
not otherwise be revealed” (Butler-Kisber & Stewart, 2009, p. 4). Creating the found
poems enabled me to view the data through a nuanced analytical frame. For example, the
concluding stanza from the sample found data poem (Write the truth/Of your/Bond)
highlights the found poem’s role in revealing the reader’s transactional relationship with
the book. Embedded as they were within the participants’ written reflections (as shown
below), the thematic impact of the words contained in the original transcribed text was
less apparent to this researcher. However, reframed in poetic form (as reprinted below),
the found words resonate with one of the most powerful themes located in the data. My
poetic writing process moved the “linear thinking” expressed in data transcripts to “a
more embodied form of text” expressed in my found data poetry (Butler-Kisber, 2005).
Transcribed lines from the written reflections:
“I found greater depths in the character I chose to write my found poem about.”
“The poem allowed me to revisit how the book talked about truth.”
“It was more of a bond between the book and I.”
Last stanza of the sample found data poem, Poetry’s Power:
Write the truth
Of your
Bond
(Patrick, 2013, p. 152)
21
Thematic Illumination: A Found Poem
Hidden among
the verbosity of prose
are wise data poems.
Poems built around themes,
revealing hidden patterns and
exposing the light of interpretation.
Dissertation Chapter Summaries
In addition to writing found poems from my dissertation data, I also wrote chapter
summaries in the form of found poems. At the end of each chapter of my dissertation, I
wrote a traditional prose summary. I then wrote a nontraditional poetic summary in the
form of a found poem. The found poem was crafted using only words from that chapter. I
have reprinted below the prose summary and the poetic summary from chapter five of my
dissertation, which discussed the study findings. This example is intended to illustrate
how form impacts the ways in which messages are presented by the writer and received
by the reader.
Prose summary. The researcher engaged in an extensive discussion of the six
major study findings. Two significant findings for each of the three research questions
were covered. It appears that found poetry may support the poetic writing efforts of
novice poets through the mentorship opportunity of using a text’s words for the poem. It
seems likely that found poetry enriches transactional relationships by inviting the reader
to revisit and reread the text in the search for words to use in the poem. Finally, it is
probable that found poetry is perceived by prospective teachers as a useful tool for
teaching future students to write poetry, thus supporting the prospective poetry teachers’
attitudes and confidence toward their future teaching responsibilities. Two
22
complementary theoretical frames were advanced with which to reinterpret the study
findings. Langer’s (1995) theory of envisionment offered an alternative lens for viewing
the found poetry writing process. The steps of the poetic process were mapped onto
Langer’s four stances, offering the reader a fresh interpretation of the research results.
The characterization of reader/text worlds, and the border that exists between them,
offered an alternative lens for viewing the found poetry writing experience. Found poetry
was explored as a mechanism for bridging these two worlds, a bridge of words that
releases the transformative power of transactional reader/text relationships. (Patrick,
2013, p. 310-311)
Poetic summary.
Poet Builders
Envision a place where
readers and texts might
meet.
A border of sorts, an
in between place
balanced over a narrow ledge of worlds.
A border where, an
infinite number
of poetic possibilities bloom and collide.
Step into the text’s world to
gather words.
Step into the reader’s world to
transform words
into a bridge
of imagination.
(Patrick, 2013, p. 311)
23
Qualitative arts-based researchers do not have to be restricted by the false binary
of writing in either scientific or artistic modes; rather, they may choose to challenge the
boundaries of research. One approach for accommodating the arts in qualitative inquiry is
to incorporate multiple genres of writing within a single research report (Richardson,
2000c). Poetry is an example of an alternative artistic genre that may be used in
combination with other more traditional genres of academic writing (Carr, 2003; Hall,
2001). I integrated two writing genres within my dissertation; I used traditional prose as
well as nontraditional found poetry to both analyze and represent my dissertation data. I
also wrote both prose and poetic chapter summaries in order to illustrate Kusserow’s
claim that science and art “feed off each other” in the realm of research poetry (2008, p.
75). As such, research poetry offers the arts-based scholar a poetic discourse, one that
creates space for imaginative arts-based research writing within the academy.
24
Conclusion: A Found Poem
Artful-Science
Found at the intersection of
creative and critical discourses.
Fusing the poetic arts
to scientific research.
Arts-Based Scholars
Access the imaginative discourse of poetry through
the art of analysis and
the resonance of representation.
Research Poets
Listen for a poem,
telling a story in many voices.
Wade through a sea of words,
compressing hours into a line.
Look beyond the veil of data,
illuminating the truth of experience.
Construct artistic windows,
framing spaces and places for poetry.
Research Poetry
short circuits tradition,
confronts convention,
breaks binaries and boundaries.
The Risks
To resist the hegemony of the academy
means to take the poetic path at one’s peril.
The Rewards
Intrigue and incite with texts that are:
compact
evocative
lively
25
References
Abercrombie, L. (1926). The theory of poetry. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company.
Atkins, H. S. (2011). A case study of adolescent females’ perceptions of identity in an
after-school book club. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest
Dissertations and Theses Database. (3450415)
Attride-Stirling, J. (2001, December). Thematic networks: An analytic tool for qualitative
research. Qualitative Research, 1(3), 385-405.
Bassett, D. R. (2012, March). I need these stories to remind me that there is hope: Poetic
representations of living in Israel during the Al Aqsa Intifada. Qualitative Inquiry,
18(5) 432–437.
Bhattacharya, K. (2008). Voices lost and found: Using found poetry in qualitative
research. In M. Cahnmann-Taylor & R. Siegesmund (Eds.), Arts-based research
in education (pp. 83-88). New York: Routledge.
Boyd, G. A. (1973). Teaching poetry in the elementary school. Columbus, OH: Charles
E. Merrill Publishing Company.
Boyle, D. (2011). Exploring a university teacher’s approach to incorporating music in a
cognition psychology course. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest
Dissertations and Theses Database. (NR78600)
Brady, I. (2004, August). In defense of the sensual: Meaning construction in ethnography
and poetics. Qualitative Inquiry, 10(4), 622-644.
Burchell, H. (2010, September). Poetic expression and poetic form in practitioner
research. Educational Action Research, 18(3), 389-400.
26
Burdick, M. (2011, June). Researcher and teacher-participant found poetry: Collaboration
in poetic transcription. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 12(SI
1.10), 1-18.
Butler-Kisber, L. (2002, Fall). Artful portrayals in qualitative inquiry: The road to found
poetry and beyond. The Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 48(3), 229-239.
Butler-Kisber, L. (2005). Inquiry through poetry: The genesis of self-study. In C.
Mitchell, K. O’Reilly-Scanlon & S. Weber (Eds.), Just who do we think we are?
Methodologies for autobiography and self study in teaching (pp. 95-110). New
York: RoutledgeFalmer.
Butler-Kisber, L. (2010). Qualitative inquiry: Thematic, narrative and arts-informed
perspectives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Butler-Kisber, L., Allnutt, S., Furlini, L., Kronish, N., Markus, P., Poldma, T., & Stewart,
M. (2002-2003). Insight and voice: Artful analysis in qualitative inquiry. Arts and
Learning Research, 19(1), 127-165. Retrieved from
http://www.uacoe.arizona.edu/ALSIG/Arts&LearningResearch03.pdf
Butler-Kisber, L., & Stewart, M. (2009). The use of poetry clusters in poetic inquiry. In
M. Prendergast, C. Leggo & P. Sameshima (Eds.), Poetic inquiry: Vibrant voices
in the social sciences (pp. 3-12). Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
Cahnmann, M. (2003, April). The craft, practice, and possibility of poetry in educational
research. Educational Researcher, 32(3), 29-36.
Cahnmann-Taylor, M. (2008). Arts-based research: Histories and new directions. In M.
Cahnmann-Taylor & R. Siegesmund (Eds.), Arts-based research in education:
Foundations for practice (pp. 3-15). London, England: Routledge.
27
Cahnmann-Taylor, M. (2009). The craft, practice, and possibility of poetry in educational
research. In M. Prendergast, C. Leggo & P. Sameshima (Eds.), Poetic inquiry:
Vibrant voices in the social sciences (pp. 13-29). Rotterdam, The Netherlands:
Sense Publishers.
Cahnmann-Taylor, M., & Siegesmund, R. (2008). To dwell in possibility: Poetry and
educational inquiry. In M. Cahnmann-Taylor & R. Siegesmund (Eds.), Arts-based
research in education (pp. 51-53). New York: Routledge.
Carr, J. M. (2003, November). Poetic expressions of vigilance. Qualitative Health
Research, 13(9), 1324-1331.
Carroll, P., Dew, K., & Howden-Chapman, P. (2011, June). The heart of the matter:
Using poetry as a method of ethnographic inquiry to represent and present
experiences of the informally housed in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Qualitative
Inquiry, 17(7), 623-630.
Chappell, S. V., & Cahnmann-Taylor, M. (2013, Vol. 37). No child left behind with
crayons: The imperative of arts-based education and research with “minority” and
other minoritized communities. In C. Faltis & J. Abedi (Eds.), Review of research
in education: Extraordinary pedagogies for working within school settings
serving nondominant students (pp. 243-268). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Cohen, S. (2009). Writing the life poetic: An invitation to read & write poetry.
Cincinnati, OH: Writer’s Digest Books.
Commeyras, M., & Montsi, M. (2000, September). What if I woke up as the other sex?
Batswana youth perspectives on gender. Gender and Education, 12(3), 327-346.
28
de Beer, M. (2003, September 10). A seventh moment bricoleurship and narrative turn to
poetics in educational research. Paper presented at the British Educational
Research Association Annual Student Conference, Heriot-Watt University,
Edinburgh. Retrieved from www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00003137.htm
Denzin, N. K. (1996, December). Punishing poets. Qualitative Sociology, 19(4), 525-528.
Denzin, N. K. (1997). Interpretive ethnography: Ethnographic practices for the 21st
century. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Denzin, N. K. (2003). Performance ethnography: Critical pedagogy and the politics of
culture. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Eisner, E. W. (1981, April). On the differences between scientific and artistic approaches
to qualitative research. Educational Researcher, 10(4), 5-9.
Eisner, E. W. (1997a, September). The new frontier in qualitative research methodology.
Qualitative Inquiry, 3(3), 259-274.
Eisner, E. W. (1997b, August/September). The promise and perils of alternative forms of
data representation. Educational Researcher, 26(6), 4-10.
Emmett, C. P., Dobbs, D., Williams, S., & Daaleman, T. P. (2011, February). “Peace
with my maker”: Voices of seriously ill African American elders regarding
advance care planning. Qualitative Inquiry, 17(2), 119-125.
Faulkner, S. L. (2005, December). Method: Six poems. Qualitative Inquiry, 11(6), 941949.
Faulkner, S. L. (2007, March). Concern with craft: Using Ars Poetica as criteria for
reading research poetry. Qualitative Inquiry, 13(2), 218-234.
29
Finley, M. (2003, July-August). Fugue of the street rat: Writing research poetry.
Qualitative Studies in Education, 16(4), 603-604.
Finley, S. (2000, September). “Dream child”: The role of poetic dialogue in homeless
research. Qualitative Inquiry, 6(3), 432-434.
Finley, S. (2003, April). Arts-based inquiry in QI: Seven years from crisis to guerilla
warfare. Qualitative Inquiry, 9(2), 281-296
Finley, S., & Knowles, J. G. (1995, March). Researcher as artist/Artist as researcher.
Qualitative Inquiry, 1(1), 110-142.
Flores, T. (1982, March). Field poetry. Anthropology and Humanism Quarterly, 7(1), 1622.
Frost, R. (1967). Complete poems of Robert Frost. New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston.
Furman, R. (2004a, April-June). Exploring friendship loss through poetry. Journal of
Loss and Trauma, 9(2), 181-187.
Furman, R. (2004b). Using poetry and narrative as qualitative data: Exploring a father’s
cancer through poetry. Family, Systems & Health, 22(2), 162-170.
Furman, R. (2005, December). Autoethnographic poems and narrative reflections: A
qualitative study on the death of a companion animal. Journal of Family Social
Work, 9(4), 23-38.
Furman, R. (2006a, April). Poetic forms and structures in qualitative health research.
Qualitative Health Research, 16(4), 560-566.
30
Furman, R. (2006b, April). A qualitative study of social development paradoxes in
Guatemala using the research poem. Journal of Comparative Social Welfare,
22(1), 37-48.
Furman, R., Collins, K., Langer, C., & Bruce, E. A. (2006). Inside a provider’s
perspective: Using practitioner poetry to explore the treatment of persons with
mental illness. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 33(4), 331-342.
Furman, R., Enterline, M., Thompson, R., & Shukraft, A. (2012). Poetry matters: A case
for poetry in social work. Journal of Social Intervention: Theory and Practice,
21(1), 5-17.
Furman, R., Langer, C. L., Davis, C. S., Gallardo, H. P., & Kulkarni, S. (2007, August).
Expressive, research and reflective poetry as qualitative inquiry: A study of
adolescent identity. Qualitative Research, 7(3), 301-315.
Furman, R., Langer, C. L., & Taylor, D. B. (2010, June). Analyzing narratives through
poetic forms and structures in gerontology: Applying new tools in qualitative
research. Journal of Poetry Therapy, 23(2), 61-71.
Furman, R., Lietz, C., & Langer, C. L. (2006, September). The research poem in
international social work: Innovations in qualitative methodology. International
Journal of Qualitative Methods, 5(3), 1-8.
Gannon, S. (2001, December). (Re)presenting the collective girl: A poetic approach to a
methodological dilemma. Qualitative Inquiry, 7(6), 787-800.
Hall, B. L. (2001). I wish this were a poem of practices of participatory research. In P.
Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative
inquiry and practice (pp. 171-178). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
31
Hartnett, S. J. (2003). Incarceration nation: Investigative prison poems of hope and terror.
Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.
Hermsen, T. (2009). Poetry of place: Helping students write their worlds. Urbana, IL:
National Council of Teachers of English.
Hill, D. H. (2005, February). The poetry in portraiture: Seeing subjects, hearing voices,
and feeling contexts. Qualitative Inquiry, 2(1), 95-105.
Isaac, C. A. (2011, June). A poetic representation: Women in medicine are “able to.”
Qualitative Inquiry, 17(5), 447-451.
Jones, M. (1990, Fall-Winter). Redeeming prose: Colombo’s found poetry. Canadian
Poetry 25, 49-55. Retrieved from
http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadianpoetry/cpjrn/vol25/jones.htm
Klehr, M. R. (2009). Artful inquiry: Aesthetic practices in teacher research. (Doctoral
dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Database.
(3399992)
Kusserow, A. (2008). Ethnographic poetry. In M. Cahnmann-Taylor & R. Siegesmund
(Eds.), Arts-based research in education (pp. 72-78). New York: Routledge.
Lahman, M. K., Rodriguez, K. L., Richard, V. M., Geist, M. R., Schendel, R. K., &
Graglia, P. E. (2011). (Re)Forming research poetry. Qualitative Inquiry, 17(9),
887-896.
Langer, C. L., & Furman, R. (2004a, May). Exploring identity and assimilation: Research
and interpretive poems. Forum Qualitative Social Research, 5(2), p. 1-13.
32
Langer, C. L., & Furman, R. (2004b, September). The Tanka as a qualitative research
tool: A study of a Native American woman. Journal of Poetry Therapy, 17(3),
165-171.
Langer, J. A. (1995). Envisioning literature: Literary understanding and literature
instruction. New York: Teachers College Press.
Lawrence-Lightfoot, S., & Davis, J. H. (1997). The art and science of portraiture. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Leggo, C. (2005, Autumn). Pedagogy of the heart: Ruminations on living poetically.
Journal of Educational Thought, 39(2), 175-195.
Leggo, C. (2008). Astonishing silence: Knowing in poetry. In. J. G. Knowles & A. L.
Cole (Eds.), Handbook of the arts in qualitative research (pp. 165-174).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Leggo, C. (2009). Living love stories: Fissures, fragments, fringes. In M. Prendergast, C.
Leggo & P. Sameshima (Eds.), Poetic inquiry: Vibrant voices in the social
sciences (pp. 147-168). Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
Little, J. N. (2011). “I will let my art speak out”: Visual narrations of youth combating
intolerance. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and
Theses Database. (NR82428)
Luce-Kapler, R. (2009). Serendipity, poetry and inquiry. In M. Prendergast, C. Leggo &
P. Sameshima (Eds.), Poetic inquiry: Vibrant voices in the social sciences (pp.
75-78). Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
33
Lyons, K. (2008). Understanding and writing the world. In M. Cahnmann-Taylor & R.
Siegesmund (Eds.), Arts-based research in education (pp. 79-82). New York:
Routledge.
McConochie, R. P. (1986, February). Three poems from the Alps. Anthropology and
Humanism Quarterly, 11(1), 15-16.
McKim, E., & Steinbergh, J. W. (1983). Beyond words: Writing poems with children.
Green Harbor, MA: Wampeter Press.
Meyer, E. J. (2008, Autumn). “Who we are matters”: Exploring teacher identities through
found poetry. Learning Landscapes, 2(1), 195-210.
Nicol, J. J. (2008, September). Creating vocative texts. The Qualitative Report, 13(3),
316-333.
Norum, K. E. (2000). School patterns: A sextet. International Journal of Qualitative
Studies in Education, 13(3), 239-250.
Patrick, L. (2013). Found poetry: A tool for supporting novice poets and fostering
transactional relationships between prospective teachers and young adult
literature. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and
Theses Database. (3673229)
Percer, L. H. (2002, June). Going beyond the demonstrable range in educational
scholarship: Exploring the intersections of poetry and research. The Qualitative
Report, 7(2). Retrieved from
http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR7-2/hayespercer.html
Poets.org. (n.d.). Poetic form: Found poem. Retrieved from
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5780
34
Poindexter, C. C. (1997, Winter). Ms. Carol and Ms. Dorothy (research poetry). Affilia:
Journal of Women and Social Work, 12(4), 486–489.
Poindexter, C. C. (2002a, March). Meaning from methods: Re-presenting narratives of an
HIV affected caregiver. Qualitative Social Work, 1(1), 59-78.
Poindexter, C. C. (2002b, December). Research as poetry: A couple experiences HIV.
Qualitative Inquiry, 8(6), 707-714.
Poindexter, C. C. (2006, Winter). Poetic language from a focus group with African
American HIV-positive women over age 50. Affilia: Journal of Women and
Social Work, 21(4), 461.
Prattis, J. I. (Ed). (1985). Reflections: The anthropological muse. Washington, DC:
American Anthropological Association.
Prendergast, M. (2003). Data poetry in qualitative research: An annotated bibliography.
International Journal of Education and the Arts, 4(1), unpaged.
Prendergast, M. (2004a, Spring). Inquiry and poetry: Haiku on audience and performance
in education. Language and Literacy, 6(1), 1-6.
Prendergast, M. (2004b). ‘Shaped like a question mark’: Found poetry from Herbert
Blau’s The Audience. Research in Drama Education, 9(1), 73-92.
Prendergast, M. (2006, April). Found poetry as literature review: Research poems on
audience and performance. Qualitative Inquiry, 12(2), 369-387.
Prendergast, M. (2007, July). Thinking narrative (on the Vancouver Island ferry): A
hybrid poem. Qualitative Inquiry, 13(5), 743-744.
35
Prendergast, M. (2009a). Introduction: The phenomena of poetry in research. In M.
Prendergast, C. Leggo & P. Sameshima (Eds.), Poetic inquiry: Vibrant voices in
the social sciences (pp. xix-xlii). Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
Prendergast, M. (2009b, Winter). “Poem is what?” Poetic inquiry in qualitative social
science research. International Review of Qualitative Research, 1(4), 541-568.
Pryer, A. (2005, Fall). Six found poems. Language and Literacy, 7(2), unpaged.
Pryer, A. (2007, Spring). Two found poems. Language and Literacy, 9(1), unpaged.
Richardson, L. (1992). The consequences of poetic representation: Writing the other,
rewriting the self. In C. Ellis & M. G. Flaherty (Eds.), Investigating subjectivity:
Research on lived experience (pp. 125-137). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Richardson, L. (1993, November). Poetics, dramatics, and transgressive validity: The
case of the skipped line. The Sociological Quarterly, 34(4), 695-710.
Richardson, L. (1994, April-1995/January). Nine poems: Marriage and the family.
Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 23(1), 3-13.
Richardson, L. (1997). Fields of play: (Constructing an academic life). New Brunswick,
NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Richardson, L. (1999). Paradigms lost. Symbolic Interaction, 22(1), 79-91.
Richardson, L. (2000a, June). Evaluating ethnography. Qualitative Inquiry, 6(2), 253255.
Richardson, L (2000b). New writing practices in qualitative research. Sociology of Sport
Journal, 17, 5-20.
36
Richardson, L. (2000c). Writing: A method of inquiry. In. N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln
(Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 923-948). Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage Publications.
Richardson, L. (2002). Poetic representation of interviews. In J. F. Gubrium & J. A.
Holstein (Eds.), Handbook of interview research: Context & method (pp. 877891). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Richardson, L. (2005). Poetic representation. In J. Flood, S. B. Heath & D. Lapp (Eds.),
Handbook of research on teaching literacy through the communicative and visual
arts (pp. 232-238). New York, Routledge.
Saunders, L. (2003, April). On flying, writing poetry and doing educational research.
British Educational Research Journal, 29(2), 175-187.
Schendel, R. K. (2009). Voices of striving elementary readers: An exploration of the
enhancement of struggling reader research through portraiture methodology.
(Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses
Database. (3397127)
Sjollema, S. D., Hordyk, S., Walsh, C. A., Hanley, J., & Ives, N. (2012, December).
Found poetry – Finding home: A qualitative study of homeless immigrant women.
Journal of Poetry Therapy, 25(4), 205-217.
Slattery, P. (2003, April). Troubling the contours of arts-based educational research.
Qualitative Inquiry, 9(2), 192-197.
37
Slotnick, R. C. (2010). University and community college administrators’ perceptions of
the transfer process for underrepresented students: Analysis of policy and
practice. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and
Theses Database. (3424385)
Smith, P. (1999, June). “Food truck’s party hat.” Qualitative Inquiry, 5(2), 244-261.
Souter, J. (2005, October). Poetic approaches. Loss of appetite: A poetic exploration of
cancer patients’ and their carers’ experiences. International Journal of Palliative
Nursing, 11(10), 524, 532.
Stenberg, T. (1929, January). Abercrombie’s view of poetry. The Sewanee Review, 37(1),
108-114.
Stewart, M. (2003). Literacy instruction in a cycle one classroom: A qualitative study.
(Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses
Database. (NQ88580)
Strate, L., & Winslow, D. (2010, October). ETC: A review of general semantics.
Educational Technology & Change, 67(4), 435-438.
Sullivan, A. M. (2000a). The necessity of art: Three found poems from John Dewey’s
‘Art as experience.’ International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education,
13(3), 325-327.
Sullivan, A. M. (2000b, Summer). Notes from a marine biologist’s daughter: On the art
and science of attention. Harvard Educational Review, 70(2), 211-227.
Sullivan, A. M. (2005, Fall). Lessons from the Anhinga trail: Poetry and teaching. New
Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 107, 23-32.
38
Swain, A. N. (2011). 21st century freedom fighters: African descent teachers’ use of
culturally relevant pedagogy as a tool of liberation. (Doctoral dissertation).
Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Database. (3471649)
Szto, P., Furman, R., & Langer, C. (2005, June). Poetry and photography: An exploration
into expressive/creative qualitative research. Qualitative Social Work, 4(2), 135156.
Walsh, S. (2006, October). An Irigarayan framework and resymbolization in an artsinformed research process. Qualitative Inquiry, 12(5), 976-993.
Washington, R. D. (2009). Tornadoes, transformations and textures: Twisting poetry and
research. In M. Prendergast, C. Leggo & P. Sameshima (Eds.), Poetic inquiry:
Vibrant voices in the social sciences (pp. 325-332). Rotterdam, The Netherlands:
Sense Publishers.
Wells, K. (2004). Safe in my heart: Found poetry as narrative inquiry. In J. McNinch &
M. Cronin (Eds.), I could not speak my heart: Education and social justice for
gay and lesbian youth (pp. 7-18). Regina, SK: University of Regina.
Wendell McIntyre, K. D. (2012). Attending to the lives of Saskatchewan students
learning English as an additional language: A narrative inquiry. (Master’s
thesis). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Database. (MR88516)
Wiggins, J. (2011, December). Feeling it is how I understand it: Found poetry as analysis.
International Journal of Education & the Arts, 12(3), 1-18.
Willis, P. (2002, April). Invited paper: Don’t call it poetry. Indo-Pacific Journal of
Phenomenology, 2(1), 1-14.
39
References: A Found Poem
Just who do you think you are?
We are academic poets.
Issuing invitations to a party questioning the shape of research.
Exploring the fissures, fragments, and fringes of poetry’s contours.
Painting crayon portraits of hope in the shape of creative sages.
Turning a war on poetry into a love story of seeing, hearing, and feeling.
We are a genesis of new directions in research writing.
40