First Advisor

Michele Glazer

Date of Publication

Spring 7-27-2017

Document Type

Closed Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Creative Writing

Department

English

Language

English

Subjects

Death -- Poetry, Mental depression -- Poetry, Interpersonal relations -- Poetry

DOI

10.15760/etd.5594

Physical Description

1 online resource (iii, 50 pages)

Abstract

This thesis is a collection of poems which were written between 2011 and 2017. Much of my earliest work is in this collection, though, most all of it has been heavily revised over the years. The content of this collection begins with seven poems that address the death of my best friend and brother, Jon. These were some of the most difficult poems for me to write but ultimately, I found that the process, though intense, was cathartic.

The rest of the collection addresses themes regarding class, place, substance abuse, mental health; including but not limited to: suicidal ideation, depression, family, social structure, politics, and anger.

A great deal of the content is dark and melancholic in mood and moves through very deep depression at points. A few relationships I've had are addressed and wrestled with and emerge as two separate apologies of sorts. I also wrestle with the idea of home and living on the west coast. The final poem, "Choose Life" was inspired by the film Trainspotting and I felt it served the collection to have a poem that is loosely comparable to a reprise that ends the thesis with a more positive outlook on life.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Comments

This thesis is only available to students, faculty and staff at PSU.

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/20741

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