The State of Concrete and Iconographic Research Poetry

In this chapter, the author reviews recent exemplars of concrete and iconographic research poetry. She traces the development of concrete and iconographic research poetry in journal articles and chapters in edited books, paying attention to the methods that each research poet employed to create their word-images. In addition to describing and interpreting recently published works, the author shares some previously unpublished iconographic ekphrastic research poetry that has promising implications for collaborative arts-based inquiry. She then engages in a reflexive examination of ethical tensions that she experienced as a non-Native scholar writing about Native artists and their works of art during her iconographic ekphrastic project. The author concludes this chapter with some writing exercises designed to encourage readers to open their eyes, ears, and hearts to sources of poetic inspiration from the natural world.