Interpretive Poetry and the Family Coming Out Crisis

Abstract

This article utilizes interpretive poetry to explore the lived experience of the family coming–out crisis from the perspective of seven self-identified gay men who faced negative parental reactions to their disclosure of gay identity. The interpretive poems, each of which explores a theme from participants’ narratives, were written by the author in response to poetic transcriptions derived from analysis of semistructured interviews. In the spirit of poetic inquiry, the interpretive poems are meant to be evocative, so as to elicit embodied, empathic understanding in the reader. Following the interpretive poems, the author reflects on the use of interpretive poetry as a framework in which to understand the poems and their intent.