Poetic consciousness in pedagogy: an inquiry of contemplation and conversation

In this paper we consider the kinds of pedagogical engagements a poetic consciousness might invoke. When we reflect on what it might mean to be poetically conscious in moments of teaching, learning, and connecting, what emerges is the possibility of integrating the classroom experience with the everyday of life; such poetically conscious teaching would make connections to the larger web of a person's experience in the world. To inquire into this possibility, we share our contemplations on our scholarly and personal experiences with poetry, presenting it here as a dis(e)ruptive text in order to invite aesthetic modes of being within the interplay of language and self. Our conversations have evolved over 3 years and have created this in-between space of active disclosure, where, we argue, poetry has offered dis(e)ruptions that celebrate the variations we inhabit in our bodies, personalities, and creative works.