The Research Poet/The Poet Researcher: Choices and Obligations for Poetic Inquiry

In recent years, researchers have debated the extent to which practitioners of poetic inquiry should feel obligated to generate text that excels both as research and as poetry. This article enters the debate by tracing changes made to a ‘found’ research poem. I generated the poem from excerpts taken from participants’ writings and then employed a series of revision techniques: from Saunders’ informal method to a more orthodox checklist constructed from the recommendations of a range of poets, and, finally, in response to critiques from members of a writing group. The focus of this process was to find the point at which the product became appreciably better than the original draft but also stayed true to the participants’ meaning and language. I argue here that extensive revision may enhance the quality of a research poem, but remaining close to participants’ intent and wording should be the first and foremost methodological goal. Although a number of previous articles have referenced the ‘quality’ debate, none, to my knowledge, have systematically tracked the process of analysis and draft improvement. The work will be of interest to readers because the article explores the choices and obligations faced by researchers employing this method.