“What I demand is accuracy for the sake of the imagination.”

(Delacroix in Ely, Vinz, Downing & Anzul 1997)

The central question of this paper is, “How could I use poetry to examine a multi-layered, transformative experience of attending a virtual conference?” Building on the research trend of the lived experience (Van Maanen 1990; Bullough & Pinnegar 2001), I employ specifically the poetic form to capture, explore, and attempt to understand, a transformative event. I explain the reason for choosing poetry and discuss aspects of the poetic form which made it seem a suitable tool to move closer towards crystallising (Richardson 1994). My challenge was to select criteria for both poetic and academic rigour, and to attempt to meet those in the course of the enquiry.  I therefore discuss the chosen criteria, and how I attempted to meet these while writing the poem first and then a reflection. I also touch on how other researchers have used poetic representation in qualitative research (Richardson 1994; Ely et al 1997; Ricci 2003; Aultman 2009) and locate this paper within the existing scope. Poetic research of a virtual learning experience – this paper interweaves the threads of poetry, research and virtuality.  Unpacking and deconstructing is the work of the poem and the paper, seeking to understand what forces are at play. An analysis of the poem reveals a range of themes, amongst others:

- Interplay and tension between poles such as north-south, local-global, virtual-real and poetic-technological;

- The levelling of power dynamics and gender differences;

- Deconstruction of conventions and norms such etiquette of face to face events;

- Experiencing multiple identities, playing many roles simultaneously, satisfying curiosity and desire by having it all, and the compromises involved. 

A meta-theme running through many of the above is “liminality”, or finding oneself on thresholds or in in-between spaces (Harrison 2010), followed by border-crossing and “irreversible conceptual transformation” (Meyer & Land 2005). The paper contributes to the field by foreshadowing different and new ways of dealing with knowledge and being academic in the 21st Century.  It is also a rendition of risk-taking -- a Generation X scholar  rehearsing new modes of learning and researching, and the discomfort and liberation, gains and losses of this multi-layered experience.