ENCOUNTERS is a selection of poems written from author’s various encounters in the course of practising the research inquiry – such as intracultural encounters (when researcher’s own cultural background is being interrogated), cross-cultural encounters (when researcher interacts with different cultures) and theoretical encounters (researcher’s reflection after engaging with various concepts and abstractions in the study). Two different languages are used to embody the concepts of play and dialogues in this book. Each of the languages suggests and develops a different perspective and identity, thus allowing multi-cultural dialogues to happen within the text. Indonesian is used to express more traditional / home elements. As a language, Indonesian is flexible enough with various loan words from different languages, both international and regional. Bearing in mind the different characteristics of the two languages used, the range of modes of combination will be such as to challenge the reader to wonder whether s/he is meeting a translation or a response or an imitation (or some other kind of re-writing) as s/he moves from one poem, and from one language, to another. The effect should be of a ‘conversation across languages’.