Through presenting a series of poetry findings from a larger poetic ethnographic study on the lived experience of 11 international graduate student first-time mothers’ learning of the “language” of motherhood during their journey of pregnancy, birth, and early years of motherhood, this article reflects on the uncontrolled nature of poetry writing in an ethnographic study and discusses the long-lasting concerns on the quality, qualification, and criteria for evaluation associated with poetic inquiry and arts-based research in general. I aim to provide methodological insights for the use and evaluation of poetic inquiry, as well as other forms of arts-based research in academia.
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