Theses and Dissertations Collection

The following poetry collection explores the presence of loss: the loss of loved ones, the loss of belongingness, the loss of beliefs, the loss of family relationships, the loss of identity, the loss of safety, the loss of home. Formal structures linked by repetition such as the crown of sonnets, the villanelle, the sestina, the terza rima, and the ghazal illustrate an obsessive mind working through P.T.S.D. and suicidal gravitations. And the cutting techniques from both erasure and Japanese forms such as the haiku, tanka, and haibun aim to texture various layers of silence. By grouping these traditional structures with colloquial voices and invented forms emphasizing line integrity and syntax, this collection hopes to offer loss's various themes an honest and vulnerable community of speakers.