Abstract:
This thesis confronts belief in both the seen and unseen, the forces that exist outside the
self, and the transformative power of memory, story telling and loss. Each poem
examines and names a human sadness explored most often by the same speaker—a
daughter—who is searching for an understanding of her own traumas, loneliness and
simultaneous reproach of and desire for the divine. At times the speaker turns to nature to
soften the violence she experiences and witnesses in the domestic sphere, but in that
natural landscape, she only encounters new monsters of mythical origin, i.e.: Big Foot,
werewolves and mermaids. Yet within these fantastical encounters, the speaker is able to
more fully reveal her hope for humankind and the truth about her own sins and flaws as
well as those of her family members. The poems here are strange and magical; they are
uncanny and lyrical. They are obsessed with the heart and with finding a way to survive.
