More Than Craft and Criteria: The Necessity of Ars Spirituality in (Black Women's) Poetic Inquiry and Research Poetry

The author introduces ars spirituality as a reflexive practice in poetic inquiry. She examines Faulkner's ars poetica and ars criteria and contends their focus on the craft, aesthetics, and evaluation of research poetry do not account for the ways in which spirituality influences Black women's research poetry and poetic inquiry. The author argues Black women's poetry-whether crafted from/for personal experiences, historical research, or transcripts-is born of the spirit and conceptualizes ars spirituality using the works of Audre Lorde and Cynthia Dillard. Three guiding principles of ars spirituality are discussed and an ars spirituality example is provided.