Divining the Silhouette (poetry)
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Graduation Year
2023
Writing Track
Narrative/Poetic Medicine
Degree
Master of Fine Arts
Program
Creative Writing
Program Director
Judy Halebsky, PhD
First Reader
Joan Baranow, PhD
Second Reader
Judy Halebsky, PhD
Description
Divining the Silhouette is a collection of poetry that examines relationships and interactions with the world in the context of living with a disability and in a disabled body. In many ways, the collection is a conversation between the author’s younger self and present self, as well as an acknowledgement of all the relationships and connections, environments and influences, essential to her becoming. The poems within the collection serve as a teaching tool, offering a model—one model—of how able-bodied people may interact more effectively with disabled people, offering glimpses of what works and what doesn’t, of what to do and what not to do, and how, if we let them, these relationships can be affirming for both sides. The collection is both self-apology and invitation for others to see an internal life more relatable than perceived at first glance. The body of work is organized into four sections (Outlines, Shadows, Shapes, Body) and includes a variety of poems including, but not limited to, lineated poems, erasure poems, 100 words stories, and prose poems.