Our 'other history': Poetry as a meta-metaphor for narrative therapy

Abstract

This paper explores certain distinctions betwen narrative and poetry as metaphors for the consciously authored life. It is suggested that such phenomena as 'self', 'authorship', 'knowledge' and 'time' are experienced differently within the narrative discourse and the discourse associated with poetry. Five aspects of 'poetic' knowledge are explored: form (or containment); aesthetic knowing; non-identity with self (participatory creation), nothingness (and not knowing); and radiance. Two examples from couple therapy are then given to illustrate these aspects and the interface between this way of knowing and the lived life.