Revealing – A Found Poem
Written by Suzanne Conroy, M.Ed., CTI, ICF

Found poetry is taking sources from others’ profound work (in my case below, it’s all taken from peer-reviewed research) and ‘restorying’ them to create new meaning. This is one of my fav’s (I have written a few…) — each line feels like its own story. What do you think? ~Suzanne

“I cannot separate myself from what I know” (Pitard, 2017, p. 6). 

We are all different, we all come from different places, and we all interpret from our own story (MacKenzie, 2013). 

We have “an opportunity to embrace better praxis” (Lyle, 2017, p, 49). 

I want “to understand myself and to inquire into what is revealed and what is concealed” (McCabe, 2017, p. 217).

“In the undivided self, every major thread of one’s life experience is honoured” (Palmer, 1998, p. 7).

Nothing is fixed, and new possibilities illuminate my thoughts with each encounter (McCabe, 2017).

“Without the reflexive process, experiences are meaningless” (Lyle 2017, p. 53).

“I myself am both [the] observer and [the] observable, and so a possible object of my own humming awareness” (McCabe, 2017, p. 120). 

We must get comfortable with in-betweenness and ask questions, and have the courage to wait for the answers (Palmer, 1998). 

 “When one grows in relationship to self, [one] begins to establish a stronger connection with those outside of the self” (MacKenzie, 2013, p. 12).

“We must talk to each other about our inner lives” (Palmer, 1998, p. 13).

“Understanding of myself and my connection to the world is reached through dialogue with others” (McCabe, 2017, p. 124).

A reminder we are not separate from our emotions (MacKenzie, 2013).

Emotions are there to inform us – to be in unity with intellect creating a whole self where body, mind, and spirit engage in unison  (MacKenzie, 2013).

“The body [and] mind do not exist unilaterally, but, rather, exist in [a] relationship, a part of something larger that can never be defined” (MacKenzie, 2013, p. 10). 

I must learn to be (un)comfortable with ambiguity and interact within this (un)certainty to be a campaign for change for myself and the world (MacKenzie, 2013). 

I implore us all to not “mask and distance the self from [our] work, [and[], as [we] grow[] in self-knowledge – [ ] bring forth and amplify the gifts of self on which good work depends” (Palmer, 1998, p. 5). 

“Wholeness does not mean perfection.  It means becoming for real by acknowledging the whole of who I am” (Palmer, 1998, p. 6). 

“I am learning to stay open to the arrival of the world into my life” (McCabe, 2017, p. 125). 

I invite you, challenge you to “revisit [your] perceptions of learning and knowing [of] [your]self and other (MacKenzie, 2013, p. 3). 

We need to live in our world where we “reveal rather than conceal” (Palmer, 1998, p. 5).

References

Lyle, E. (2017). Learning in the field. In Of books, barns, and boardrooms: Exploring praxis through reflexive inquiry. (pp.45–56). Sense Publishers. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,sso&db=nlebk&AN=1594187&custid=s7439054
MacKenzie, S. K. (2013). Poetic Praxis: Engaging body, mind, and soul in the social foundations classroom. Journal for Learning through the Arts, 9(1), 1–27. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1018242.pdf
McCabe, K. (2019). Opening in to alethia. In E. Lyle (Ed.). Fostering a relational pedagogy: Self-study as transformative praxis (pp. 116–126). Brill. https://search-ebscohost-com.libraryservices.yorkvilleu.ca/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=url,cookie,ip,uid&db=nlebk&AN=1984265
Palmer, P. (1998). The heart of a teacher: Identity and integrity in teaching. Courage Renewal. http://www.couragerenewal.org/PDFs/Parker-Palmer_The-Heart-of-a-Teacher.pdf
Pitard, J. (2017). A journey to the centre of self: Positioning the researcher in autoethnography. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 18(3). https://search-proquest-com.libraryservices.yorkvilleu.ca/docview/1947972068?accountid=142373