Ghost Mouth

Abstract

This thesis is a poetic meditation on three famines in history: the Irish Potato Famine lasting from 1845 to 1852, the Ukrainian famine of 1933, and the Great Chinese Famine lasting from 1958 to 1961. In telling these narratives, a kind of memorial is built through poetry, and therefore an examination of memorials themselves begins. The thesis concerns itself with tragedies easily forgotten by the American public. In considering memorials and their psychological function, another thread appears: that of guilt, complicity, and privilege. Following this thread, it becomes apparent that in order to look at these tragedies one must first acknowledge from where one is looking.