American poetry -- 21st century

The subject matter of these poems is a primarily urban landscape and the people who inhabit that landscape.

These poems travel into the landscape of the self through the physical terrain that shapes experience, memory and imagination".

This is a collection of primarily lyric poems that examine personal relationships, often through photographic and cinematic metaphors. -- abstract.

A Shape For Light is a collection of lyric poetry exploring interior space and experience in relation to the physical world and language. The sections reflect the speaker's use of place to define the personal, observation and its interaction with visual a

This collection explores themes of work and rural poverty in Maine, placing them beside current events and lyric explorations of self. The poems included use a wide array of strategies from a variety of traditions in poetry, including free" verse and pros

Sometimes dark, sometimes funny, the poems in Above Ground Burials range from memories of New Orleans pre-Katrina to surreal adventures in dreams.--Abstract.

This sequence of poems works to embody the collective memory of African Americans living post reconstruction. The collection moves from the present to the recent and distant history, from the North and West back to the deep South. --Abstract.

The poems in All Night Barbecue attempt to find moments of empathy, pleasure, and humor within segments of society that are traditionally considered outsiders. Most of the speakers/characters find a semblance of belonging, if only for a moment, within the

With a particular focus on feminine identity and place, Always, Ditto examines interactions between people and landscape, and the influences of what is both within and out of our control. This collection of both formal and free verse poems travels to the

This is a collection of primarily lyric poems that examine relationships, often between the self and an unseen idea or un- force of some kind. -- abstract.

"Blade Mouth works to negotiate how the complexities of conflict can manifest into the kind of pressure that breaks and, maybe, the kind of pressure that purifies." --Abstract.

Bone tattoo is a collection of poems exploring history, war, family and loss. The poems are mostly narrative though some are more abstract. The speaker often takes on the role of the observer, whether it be through the eyes of a bar patron, a child or Con

This collection explores narratives of family and place. The voice of the speaker matures as the manuscript progresses, beginning in the voice of a child and ending with that of an uncertain adult. Though some poems are formal, the collection is mainly co

An examination of the basic factors that make up the lives we lead. Separated into four distinct but interconnected parts, this thesis is written for anyone who has ever loved or needed human contact, experienced death or seen or felt something strange, o

"This thesis project is a 40-page poetry manuscript written largely in free verse. The poems focus on relationships in all forms—family, friends, lovers—, gender issues, evangelical faith reckoning, and the natural world. Throughout the collection the speaker grapples with finding and exercising their voice." -- Abstract

"The poems in Bystander hold the private spaces in our lives up to the light. This examination yields a reconsideration of what we assume mundane, but also shows us the things we thought were solid are perhaps fluid--perhaps a mirage. Relationships between people and objects are explored, as well as the relationship among the mind, the body and consciousness that can elude us all." --Abstract.