Poetry Commons^™

Volume 66 Full Issue, Toyon Literary Magazine

Toyon: Multilingual Literary Magazine

No abstract provided.

The Promethean, Volume 28, The Last Torch, 2020, English Department, Concordia University-Portland

The Promethean

In September, we did not know that this edition of The Promethean would truly be the last. Riding the wave of Blue Apocalypse, our editors sat in front of each other composing a pool of possible themes. We wanted a title that captured the loss of the College of Arts & Sciences at Concordia University – Portland.

We were still present, learning, and generating beautiful work, despite mourning a gaping wound. We wanted to remind those around us—and even ourselves—that the literary heart of this university still burned with passion, talent, and perseverance.

When I suggested The Last Torch …

"Shade Of The Earth", Joseph Patrick Self

2020 Symposium Creative Works

“Shade of the Earth” is a collection of 5 narrative poems: “On The Mountaintop”, “The Burning Boy”, “May Live or Die”, “Must Burn to Feel”, and “Shade of the Earth." The story runs together as one narrative with each poem linking into the next, split up into parts, not to divide but to bring them together. Perhaps in the hope of showing that life is separated yet whole.

This series portrays the state of mind of someone (possibly) self-entitled, the Burning Boy, as they battle against the entity of Night who exists as the complexities of pain and sadness and …

Amjambo Africa! (May 2020), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In This Issue...

Legacy of artist & scholar David Driskell...........................p. 2

Navigating COVID-19.................p. 3

US/Canada Border Crossing.......p. 5

Evictions & Rental Assistance.....p. 6

Virtual commemoration .............p. 8

COVID-19 and youth..................p. 9

Unemployment Insurance..........p. 9

Legislation: Stimulus.................p. 11

Preventing a second spike .......p. 19

Food resource listing...........p. 20/21

Translating Contemporary Minimalist Poetry: Limitations And Complexities, Hannah G. Riddle

Undergraduate Honors Theses

I have written and translated a collection of poetry into German, comparing the obvious constraints of minimalist poetry to longer and prosaic forms. In addition to pertinent literature, I utilize my educational background in German as well as a recent foreign language internship to explore the limitations and complexities of translating contemporary minimalist poetry. I focus on how, because of its inherent need for syntactic brevity, minimalist poetry can often be one of the most difficult types of poetry to translate.

Skin: Stories, Poems, And Essays, Amanda G. Hadlock

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis begins with a critical introduction which analyzes the use of objective correlative and varying points of view in creative writing in order to generate dialogue on cultural issues. I relate theories from Edward T. Hall, T.S. Eliot, Mikhail Bakhtin, and Lubomír Doležel to my own writing. Additionally, I situate my own multi-genre writing with work of contemporaries such as Maggie Nelson and Claudia Rankine. My hypothesis is that writers can use an objective correlative (Eliot) from the top of the cultural iceberg (Hall) as an entry point to representing deeper, more fraught cultural issues. Additionally, by experimenting with …

Camouflage, Fred Pond

The Lindenwood Review: a journal of literary prose

No abstract provided.

A Blended Displacement; Stories From The Periphery, Katherine Belliel

All NMU Master's Theses

A Blended Displacement; Stories from the Periphery, explores various forms and definitions of displacement through relationships, travel, and the sense of home. The thesis explores such subject matter as a creative work of mixed creative non-fiction and fiction. By engaging with controversial terms like expatriate, immigrant, refugee, and third-culture-kid, the work interrogates the political with the personal. The non-fiction part of the thesis centers on the narrative of a woman from Michigan living abroad, contrasting with the historical fiction portrayal of a Slovenian immigrant in Michigan. Both with ties to Michigan, both displaced, both illustrating the different labels, and …

You Don’T Even Live There Anymore, Claire Corbeaux

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Tectonic, Rebecca E. Holifield

Honors Theses

Tectonic is a collection of original poems accompanied by a critical preface.

Entre Países, Jared Steiman

Honors Theses

This collection of original poems deals with the unique experience of transnational family, particular to the international and interracial tensions of the years 2014-2020. The works focus on intimate portraits of life in the United States South, the Mexican South, and the relationship between. Love and loss feature prominently. Injustice is sewn throughout. Accompanying the original poems are a number of translations of Octavio Paz and Rosario Castellanos, as well as a craft essay detailing the process of creating this body of work.

Harvest: Poems, Brittney Allen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Louise Glück wrote, “the actual making of art is a revenge on circumstance.” The risk, she goes on, is in the possibility of shame. Writing poetry then becomes an act of courage, purchased with sacrifice or loss. “Courage, in this usage, alludes to a capacity for facing down the dark forces.”

In Harvest, a poetry chapbook, the speaker takes revenge on the circumstances of her life by being blunt, bare, and brave on the page. She contends with a male-dominated society and abusive childhood as she moves into adulthood and the supposed saving grace of a marriage. The speaker confesses …

Eclipsed By Culture, Andrea Diamond

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The purpose of this thesis is to explore through poetry my conflicted relationship with an abusive, narcissistic father, a father who passed down to me the after-effects of generations of inherited trauma and traditions of patriarchy. In a narrative arc unfolding through domestic scenes and deepened with metaphor, I offer readers the story of my struggle to accept the personal and psychological damage I experienced as a child, to forgive, and to achieve a measure of healing so that my experience might benefit others. Using poetry enabled me to distill elements of my circumstances that, in my lived experience, were …

The Prodigy Of Existence: An Essay On Identity And Its Constraints With Original Poems, Azariah Butler Ruthford

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This research essay and collection of poems will highlight key moments in coming to terms with identity. For myself, these identities include race, sexuality, and gender. I have found an expressive outlet through poetry in which I can deduce experiences and make them more approachable for the audience from the perspective of a black, homosexual man. Similarly, Toni Morrison tasks the readers to understand the ways in which identities propose limitations on individuals in her novel, Beloved .The pieces included in this selection will illustrate how life experiences often dictate ones’ identity, and how exploring these differences can inspire both …

Goal Drought, Stephanie Oesch

All NMU Master's Theses

Goal Drought is a collection of free verse and prose poetry that focuses on the sport of soccer. The collection explores the roles of fans and players within the sport as well as the strategy, concepts, and controversies that make up much of soccer. Beyond just the game, the collection also engages with religious concepts and the more general themes of obsession, desire for community, and the act of participating and watching performances. Physicality and personal experience also play a large role in this work, and the collection mixes both jargon and more casual and conversational language to try and …

The Criterion Collection, Mackenna Finley

Honors Projects

The Criterion Collection is an examination of truth in fiction and poetry. The goal of this project is not to create truth that is absolute, but instead to allow for the experience of its subjectivity. The interplay between fiction and poetry, reader and author illuminates the subtle warping of truth through human experience.

Blend It Like Beckett: Samuel Beckett And Experimental Contemporary Creative Writing, Sam Nicole Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Samuel Beckett penned novels, short stories, poetry, stage plays, radio plays, and scripts—and he did each in a way that blended genre, challenged the norms of creative writing, and surprised audiences around the globe. His experimental approach to creative writing included the use of absurdism, genre-hybridization, and ergodicism, which led to Beckett fundamentally changing the approach to creative writing. His aesthetics have trickled down through the years and can be seen in contemporary works, including Aimee Bender’s short story collection The Girl in the Flammable Skirt and Mark Z. Danielewski’s novel House of Leaves[1]. By examining these works …

How To Immortalize A Body // Listen: To Give Attention To One’S Sound, Julia Rose Merante

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Oil And Wine // Northern Gold, Jack White

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

There Is // Butterfly Tattoo, Daniel Fleischman

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.