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―defamiliarize‖; science frequently does. Poetry does not invariably
challenge conventional ways of thinking: it may instead confirm
them, and be more inclined to resist cultural and political change
than to promote it…….They have both represented the voice of
oppression. They have both represented the voice of
emancipation.‖ ( p.117-118)
Paley (ibid) warns about the limiting effect of taking up binary-based
thinking i.e. polarisations, even when professing to be positioning ones
work in a post-modern paradigm. He argued that metaphor belongs to
both science and poetry and citing Lakoff and Johnson (1980 p.4) noted
―most of our ordinary conceptual system is metaphorical in nature‖.
Therefore as a consequence of this multi-disciplinary reading, I felt
encouraged to use poetry as a legitimate research process to add to the
understanding of reflecting during care giving. Yet, I also recognised the
need to stay reflexive about the poems because poetry is not a panacea
for reflexive processes. I am claiming only that it has helped me make
sense of my nursing experiences and allowed me to process the emotional
and embodied aspects of my knowledge and practice as a nurse and
teacher. The poems have articulated emotions and political tensions in
care giving helping me to question the field and habitus of nursing
practice. Later, I will show how some of the poems resonated with other
nurses‘ experience.
In presenting this literature, I have shown the potential for using my poems
as an epistemology of practice, as data re-presentation, and as
interpretation. In the following section I discuss how I used the poems as a
collaborative inquiry process. I show the hesitant, accidental and gradual
journey becoming a purposeful collaborative inquiry.
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