When I was interviewed in March 1990 for a position in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia, I explained that I was a poet, educator, and scholar with a keen interest in promoting poetry and creative writing, and especially ways to support educational research, theory, and practice by attending to issues of poetic discourse and poetic knowing. In my teaching, researching, and writing, I have continued to promote the significant value of attending to language from creative perspectives. I am committed to exploring the lively intersections between critical discourse and creative discourse. Too often in the academy, the creative arts are separated from the social science disciplines. My goal is to open up spaces for the creative arts to inform education research. In recent years, I have happily called myself an a/r/tographer, and as an artist and researcher and teacher, I continue to seek to understand how poetry is a practice of language and literacy that can foster hope and wisdom for living more effectively and productively in the world. As an educator, I am convinced that all of us—students, teachers, parents, artists, administrators—need to attend to multiple ways of knowing and becoming. Poetry offers significant ways for learning and practicing our living in the world.
Other poems by Carl Leggo:
Love in the Time of Scholars
Light Lines
Mr. Burns Teaches Ecology
Poems by Carl Leggo with music provided by Michael Toth:
O
Lynch’s Lane
My Mother’s House
More information regarding Carl’s work, visit his profile at UBC