541 International Review of Qualitative Research, Volume 1, Number 4, February 2009, pp. 541–568. © 2009 International Institute for Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign All rights reserved. “Poem Is What?” Poetic Inquiry in Qualitative Social Science Research Monica Prendergast Abstract Tis paper articulates the fndings of a two-year Canadian fed- erally-funded postdoctoral study — Poetic inquiry in qualitative research: A critical survey — on the use of poetry in social science qualitative research practices. Based on a 1000+ page annotated bibliography gathered into a criti- cal anthology as the data for this project, the discoveries emerged that are ex- pressed below. Te bibliography consists solely of poems included in over 230 studies found for this multidisciplinary project, supported by abstracts and brief contextual notes. Selection criteria for included studies were peer-re- viewed journal contributions only, bracketing out anything that had appeared in book form, in ‘Poet’s Corners’, and also excluding poems appearing in theses or dissertations. Some of these excluded poems are cited in a separate Appen- dix. Tese criteria were made simply to limit the scope of the study to a man- ageable scale. Most of this poetically-informed scholarship has appeared in the past decade, although some entries date as far back as the 1970’s and 80’s. Conclusions are that poetic inquiry most often addresses topics with clear afective dimensions, and can be distinguished between participant-based and self-study foci, with occasional examples of theoretical studies. Partici- pant-based studies generally draw on the literary tradition of found poetry to represent participant data. Self-studies may address more philosophical, phe- nomenological and/or poststucturalist opportunities that present themselves through the use of poetry in social science contexts. Introduction: The Phenomena of Poetry in Research Te poets march on, taking two principles of language very seriously: meaning is unlimited and everybody has some. So we say to the tinhorns: Kill and eat all the poets you want. We'll make more — in the underground, in our hearts, our thoughts, our stories, and the backrooms of our academies. And when the sun comes around again, look for us. (Brady, 2004, p. 636)