https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800420934141 Qualitative Inquiry 1–6 © The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1077800420934141 journals.sagepub.com/home/qix Research Article You cannot hear a poem coming, It’s wings as soundless as a night-moth’s, Or call it to heel or follow as you would a dog. It is not biddable, it has no tomorrow, and it won’t fly in Even if you leave your window wide open. Kay (2011, p. 35) I did not choose poetic inquiry—poetic inquiry chose me. As I sought to position a poetry-calling within my world of research, I discovered poetic inquiry (Butler-Kisber, 2010). Poetic inquiry can be used as an analytic devise in data col- lection, data analysis or used as a way of re-presenting find- ings (McCulliss, 2013; Prendergast, 2006; Richardson, 2011). Poetic inquiry seeks to “reveal and communicate truths via intuitive contemplation and creative expression” (Elliot, 2012, p. iv) and can also be used as an auto-ethno- graphic approach for enhanced research practice (Redman- MacLaren, 2015a). As a public health researcher, employing poetic inquiry is a novel research approach. The reader of scientific inquiry is not often invited into the personal and emotional world of the researched or researcher, especially to illuminate researcher “bias” and assumptions. Poetry, however, creates spaces that enable new ways of knowing and becoming in the world (Leggo, 2008). It “presents, and is a catalyst for, a window into the heart of human experience” (McCulliss, 2013, p. 83). Poetry invites and re-presents the messiness of the human experience. It creates space for the researcher to concentrate data to explore new ways of knowing and links the head and heart (Leggo, 2008). In this article, I position myself as a poet-researcher working with women for improved health and well-being in the Pacific. Findings from research are re-presented in a critical poetic inquiry, with the potential for poetry to elicit health-promoting action introduced. Positioning the Poet-Researcher To understand the research methodology of poetic inquiry, Owton (2017) states one must position inquiry on a philo- sophical foundation. My axiology (way of being) is best described by explicating my values: love, social justice, and equity. My way of being in, and doing, research start in a base/place of love. Following an extensive explora- tion of how I understand the nature of reality, I fell upon critical realism, which attends to social structure as well as individual action (Oliver, 2012). This ontological posi- tion now informs my understanding of knowledge as cul- turally and historically situated (Redman-MacLaren & Mills, 2015). As a poet-researcher I, as with many others (Charmaz, 2019), am not satisfied with describing messy contexts in which I live and work. Employing a critical perspective, I now use research poetry to challenge ineq- uity to transform. The worldview of the researcher determines the way research (including poetic inquiry) is conceived and con- ducted (Mills & Birks, 2014). Therefore, I share my 934141QIX XX X 10.1177/1077800420934141Qualitative InquiryRedman-MacLaren research-article 2020 1 James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia Corresponding Author: Michelle Redman-MacLaren, College of Medicine and Dentistry James Cook University, McGregor Road, Smithfield, Cairns, Queensland 4878, Australia. Email: michelle.maclaren@jcu.edu.au Pacific Women, HIV, and Me: A Positioned Critical Poetic Inquiry Michelle Redman-MacLaren 1 Abstract In this article, poetic inquiry is introduced, the author’s standpoint explicated, and a critical poetic inquiry from the Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea reported. Auto-ethnographic, narrative, and found (transcription) poems are included re- presenting observational and qualitative data. Impacts of violence, poverty, and stigma, along with life-affirming actions of individuals, families, and their communities, are explored. This critical poetic inquiry encourages the reader toward critical thinking and positive action for improved sexual health and well-being. Keywords investigative poetry, methods of inquiry, qualitative research, methodologies, qualitative health research, arts-based inquiry