Creative Writing Commons^™

Early Days In The Green Movement: A Personal Account, Rosemarie Rowley

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

From someone who from an early age had wanted to be a poet, and whose favourite poet was Wordsworth, it is not difficult to imagine that in some way I would relate to nature as a mature woman. For me it was not the difficulty of being a woman poet which offered the greatest challenge, since my father, a traditional musician, and my aunt who was a songwriter in America had encouraged me to write poetry, but the difficulty was of combining political activism with poetry.

Norris - A Growing Plant, Gayle Goldstick

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

'Industriehafen' is the ugliest place it's possible to find in the beautiful German city of Bremen. The first time I saw it, it reminded me of some of the more offensive eyesores around the Los Angeles Harbor or Wilmington where so many chemicals are stored in large tanks along the hills.

Gestures Toward Cross-Species Reciprocal Relations In Contemporary Poetics, Mary Newell

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

In this essay, I explore some embodied bases of ethical attitudes toward human/ animal exchanges in the texts of three contemporary authors: Mary Oliver, Heller Levinson, and Adrienne Rich. Since other species share with humans varieties of agency, sentience, and purposive activity, I suggest that reciprocity is a fundamental aim in cross-species relations. Phenomenological philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty depicts the correlation between embodied actions and attitudes, for example, between the hand movement of grasping and an appropriative attitude toward the natural world. His concept of reciprocity, grounded in the experience of one hand touching another, provides a reference for encounters that …

The World Is White And Slow And Infinitely Flat, Rob Baum

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

Eco-feminism, cultural study and the environment coalesce in the form of poetic cultural commentary, originally fieldnotes. I draw exclusively from my years in the Alaskan Arctic among the Iñupiat Eskimo, who call themselves "the People of the Whale." The striking and severe natural environment, a landscape of endless ice, is central to the poetry, which richly portrays a vision of the Arctic absent from tourist travel guides, National Geographic and anthropological volumes. These magazines vend the Far North's beautiful austerity, including at times the physical beauty of its animal inhabitants, including humans, while disregarding human specificity and violence …

Ka Lawai‘A, Ku‘Ualoha Ho‘Omanawanui

Pacific Studies

This poem uses the extended metaphor of traditional Hawaiian fishing to portray emotional manipulation and betrayal. The speaker likens their relationship to being hunted—baited with false promises and pierced by deception. Imagery of kukui nuts, sharp spears, and the soft body of the he‘e (octopus) evokes both cultural specificity and visceral vulnerability. Ultimately, the poem critiques how some cling to age-old tactics of control and harm, choosing cunning and tradition over transparency or change.

Silauni‘I, Jacinta Galea‘I

Pacific Studies

This poignant story follows the narrator’s friendship with Silauni‘i, the daughter of a village minister in Samoa. Silauni‘i is quiet, unconventional, and full of subtle resilience—her zig-zag pigtails, uncombed hair, and luminous smile defy rigid expectations placed on minister’s children. Together, the girls navigate school, village gossip, and the burdens of being “examples” in their community. As they study Samoan grammar at A‘oga Samoa, the story builds to a heartbreaking moment when Silauni‘i is publicly beaten after failing a quiz, a punishment that reflects the weight of expectations and the cruelty of discipline cloaked in righteousness. Through intimate details and …

Shadows Dance In My Head, Cresantia F. Koya Vaka'uta

Pacific Studies

This emotionally charged poem captures the fragmentation of memory, longing, and betrayal through rich sensory imagery and stream-of-consciousness form. The speaker grapples with a haunting relationship marked by absence, desire, and spiritual dissonance. Religious symbols like rosaries and puja sit beside visceral images of movement, scent, and violence, evoking a clash between sacred ritual and raw human emotion. A mysterious woman—sensual, spectral, unattainable—symbolizes the speaker’s loss and powerlessness. The poem loops, returning to “shadows” and “silence,” suggesting the persistent echo of emotional trauma and unresolved yearning.

Mauri, Alice Te Punga Somerville

Pacific Studies

This evocative poem is a quiet meditation on memory, mourning, and the enduring presence of a loved one. The white wreath becomes a sacred object—part keepsake, part spirit vessel—tied to a deeply personal moment of loss. As the speaker reflects on the wreath’s gentle movement, what might be dismissed as mere wind becomes, for them, a sign of something more: a whisper from beyond, a connection that lingers even in silence.

Sarong/‘Ie Lavalava, Caroline Sinavaiana

Pacific Studies

These paired poems—one traditional and one contemporary—celebrate love, desire, and cultural identity through the evocative imagery of clothing and voyage. The first, a traditional Samoan poem, uses the lavalava (sarong), siapo (tapa cloth), and the metaphor of anchoring a canoe to express admiration, intimacy, and the quiet finality of choosing a beloved. The second, more modern, mirrors this sentiment with lyrical imagery: a sarong as a flowing connection between nature, memory, and union. Together, they link personal affection with cultural heritage, honoring both bodily adornment and emotional anchorage.

Village Princess, Tusiata Avia

Pacific Studies

This poem reflects on the tension between traditional cultural roles and personal freedom, using the figure of a taupou—an honored ceremonial title in Samoan culture—as a lens. The speaker contrasts their sister’s symbolic beauty and status with her eventual rejection of expectations, choosing instead a life of independence and reinvention in America. The shift from reverence to silence around titles suggests a broader commentary on changing values and the cost of self-determination.

Living Small, Kim Meredith

Pacific Studies

This story traces Luisa’s quiet reflections during a bus ride through the city and into the suburbs, blending present experiences with vivid memories of a full, familial past. As she recalls life with her husband in her grandparents’ home and her grandmother’s moving speech at her university graduation, we see Luisa grappling with the contrast between her youthful dreams and her current life. Her grandmother once called her “a dreamer” and supported her late-night intellectual curiosity, forging a bond that shaped Luisa’s path. When a coworker sits beside her on the bus, Luisa is drawn back into the present, revealing …

Manōwai, Victoria Nālani Kneubuhl

Pacific Studies

This story follows Kanoe, a woman who retreats to rural Kona to recover from an emotionally abusive relationship with Frank, a manipulative academic. Through journal-like reflections and quiet moments in the heat-soaked coastal town, Kanoe processes her heartbreak and rediscovers herself. Her interactions with locals—particularly the wise and warm-hearted Luisa—reveal a rhythm of life grounded in history, resilience, and a subtle but profound sense of healing. As Kanoe begins writing again and exploring her surroundings, her journey shifts from escape to restoration, where stories, memory, and new connections light the path forward.

It Began With A Question, Konai Helu Thaman

Pacific Studies

This poem reflects a quiet, profound moment of surrender and trust. Rooted in timelessness and uncertainty, the speaker is called into action not by clarity, but by faith. Despite feeling disconnected from place and time, they answer a rare question with a brave "yes," grounding themselves in something enduring—a rock that "noticed" them. It’s a meditation on belonging, voice, and hope whispered into a weary world.

The Night Woman, Sia Figiel

Pacific Studies

This evocative poem honors the resilience, knowledge, and sacred power of the “Night Woman”—a symbolic figure who endures judgment and violence from the dominant “Day People.” Though wounded, she hides her pain behind silence and laughter, carrying ancient wisdom of the natural and cosmic world. In a transformative act at the ocean’s edge, she sheds societal expectations (“Day Skin”) to embrace her true self, birthing new generations whose identities are written in the stars. It’s a lyrical celebration of hidden strength, ancestral legacy, and feminine sovereignty.

Diagnosis, Caroline Sinavaiana

Pacific Studies

This poem captures a moment of tense uncertainty, likely surrounding a medical diagnosis revealed by ultrasound. The natural imagery—sea of shadows, swaying grass, warring rain and wind—mirrors the speaker’s emotional turbulence. Faced with a 50/50 prognosis, they turn inward, preparing for struggle or protection by invoking ancestral strength, symbolized by “ancient arrows” and a tightened bowstring. It’s a poetic meditation on fear, resilience, and readiness in the face of potential loss.

Waimanalo Litany, Caroline Sinavaiana

Pacific Studies

This elegiac poem, “Waimanalo Litany,” written in memory of Mahealani Dudoit, is a lyrical meditation on loss, healing, and the sacred presence of place. With vivid imagery of ocean, land, and ancestral spirits, the poet weaves a prayerful plea for mercy and peace across beloved Pacific landscapes. The repeated invocations to the spirits of moana, Koʻolau, Makapuʻu, and Waimānalo evoke a sense of cultural rootedness and spiritual continuity, even amid physical pain and environmental disruption. It is both a personal tribute and a collective chant of remembrance.

My Pigeon, From The Samoan, Caroline Sinavaiana

Pacific Studies

This poem is a lyrical elegy expressing love, longing, and loss through the metaphor of a pigeon in flight. Rooted in Samoan tradition, it evokes a deep emotional landscape where nature mirrors the ache of separation. The forest becomes both a literal and symbolic space of mystery and mourning, as the speaker watches and waits in vain for a beloved who has disappeared. Through its gentle cadence and sensory imagery, the poem captures the enduring ache of absence and the hope—however faint—that love might return on silent wings.

Not Exotic, Lisa Kahaleole Hall

Pacific Studies

This sensual poem explores desire and self-discovery through the metaphor of mangoes—ripe, tart, messy, and irresistible. The speaker recalls the intense flavors and sensations of mango eating, paralleling them with a complex, bold woman who resists sweetness in favor of spice. It captures the tension between sharp edges and tender longing in a relationship that ripens slowly, but promises depth and heat in time.

Niudity (I-Iv), Teresia Teaiwa

Pacific Studies

The "Niudity" poem sequence by Teresia Teaiwa explores the layered metaphor of the coconut (niu) to reflect on identity, vulnerability, and postcolonial femininity in Oceania. The poems interweave bodily imagery with cultural symbolism—where the coconut’s husk, shell, and flesh represent stages of exposure, resilience, and inner worth. In playful yet poignant verse, Teaiwa deconstructs the idea of nudity into niudity—a state shaped not just by nakedness, but by misrecognition, resistance, and cultural disguise. Her fictional dictionary entries parody colonial linguistic authority while empowering indigenous reinterpretation. The final poem subverts expectations with sharp commentary on exploitation, voice, and …

Woven Worlds, Konai Helu Thaman

Pacific Studies

This poem beautifully portrays the act of weaving—both literal and metaphorical—as a shared practice of memory, creativity, and cultural continuity. The speaker reflects on how hands, once weaving traditional materials like voivoi (pandanus), now craft art through movement and color. Together, the weavers form a collective bond, connecting generations and geographies in a creative act that honors ancestral legacy and reimagines the world through shared expression.

2nd Stanza, "Samoa," From Meet You In Hawaiki, Rosanna Raymond

Pacific Studies

An image of a woman with a poem.

The Social Construction Of Authorship: An Investigation Of Subjectivity And Rhetorical Authority In The College Writing Classroom, Johannah Rodgers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Although we use the term author on a daily basis to refer to certain individuals, bodies of work, and systems of ideas, as Michel Foucault and other critics have pointed out, attempting to answer the question “What is an Author?” is by no means a simple proposition. And, starting from the position that there is no single, or definitive answer to this complex question, this dissertation seeks to contribute to the ongoing discussion of the genealogy of authorship by investigating the ways in which conceptions of the author have informed models of the writing subject in the field of rhetoric …

Nexus, Winter 2007, Wright State University Community

Nexus Literary Journal

Nexus is a magazine that began as an insert in the Wright State Guardian student newspaper in 1965 and has since been published semi-regularly. It began only accepting creative writing, but has since expanded to include illustrations, photography and other non-written art forms. Today, it is published in a digital format and accepts submissions from around the country, though it maintains its commitment to the Wright State Community.

Masculine Fecundity And ‘Overinclusiveness’: Imagery Of Pregnancy In Wallace Stevens’ Poetry, Brian Glaser

English Faculty Articles and Research

This article reflects on the imagery of pregnancy in the poetry of Wallace Stevens. It notes that the decision of Stevens to change the use of imagery of pregnancy indicates something about a development in his inner life. The images of his later poems show a diminishment of his earlier tendency to associate birth with death which is a sign of his increasing tolerance of the envious desire to be pregnant. The imagination of Stevens matured over twenty years and the changes in images of pregnancy are a measure of that change.

Ua1d Joe Survant, Wku Human Resources

WKU Administration Documents

Biographical clipping file regarding Joe Survant.

Ivy Leaves, 2007, Ivy Leaves Editorial Staff

Ivy Leaves

The 2007 edition of the Anderson University journal of art and literature, Ivy Leaves.

The names of the known editors for this issue of Ivy Leaves were Jessica Sopolosky, Charlie Grant, Phyllis Goins, Joshua Rigsby, Robbie Cobb, Wayne Cox, and Eric Whitlock.

The Feast Of First Mourning, Sumeia Williams

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

No abstract provided.

Réécritures Romanesques Du Mythe De Médée Chez Maryse Condé Et Marie N’Diaye, Jean-Luc Manenti

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

The mythical figure of Medea, made notable by child murder, has had a significant diffusion in contemporary fiction. A comparative analysis of her apparition in some novels by Maryse Condé and by Marie N’Diaye demonstrates the transposition and the updating of the myth according to varied cultural contexts. Situated between transgression and sublimation, the renovated figure of the infanticidal genitrix associates the imaginary of the beneficent mother to the one of the harmful mother. This hybrid status allows her to reveal a different specificity, one that goes beyond manichean classifications.

La Traversée Des Savoirs Dans Le Roman Africain, Justin K. Bisanswa

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

The African novel refers to a socio-political as well as a literary History, but does so with guile, expressing this History from an angle. Referring constantly to the social and human sciences, to the point of competing with them, the novel vacillates between dependency and autonomy. It thus proposes a specific knowledge of society, its functioning, and the individuals who constitute it. However, its true intention is not to copy the world, nor even to imitate its life, but to provide a miniaturized replica of both, and set itself up as a vast metonymic duplicate of a certain universe.

L’Historiographie Positiviste Au Miroir De La Fiction Littéraire, Kasereka Kavwahirehi

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

In its study of L’Écart by V.Y. Mudimbe, this article examines the critical and ironic mirroring of the discourses of the social sciences. By highlighting the pretensions of scientific discourse, Mudimbe’s fiction reveals the ambiguity and the limits of positivist methodology in a postcolonial context.