Translating writing words: Writing as a poet, writing as an academic  

As writers move between poetry and writing in and for their subject disciplines, it is interesting to ask whether the adaptations they make are mainly ones of language and discourse or whether they reflect something fundamental about the selves they are revealing. This chapter considers the way these writers adapt their message as they cross from one community to the other and the different aspects of themselves they choose to express with each audience. As each writer shares aspects of their writing history, people can able to ask why, how, and at what personal or professional cost they traverse the two writing worlds and what is lost or gained in translation between the two. The chapter addresses the links between discourse-level choices and core identity as a writer by sharing the reflective testimonies of seventeen writers who are both poets and academic writers across multiple subject disciplines, including history, social studies, lexicography, botany, creative arts, technology, and English literature