Keywords

poetry

Abstract

THE GIRL WHO DROWNED THE WHOLE WORLD investigates the consequences of loneliness. Upon returning to her hometown, the speaker, Cucú, reckons with the fact she no longer has a place amongst her friends and past. Her frustrations manifest as a Biblical flooding, leaving her the only person alive in the world. She embarks on a journey of coping whilst reframing her sudden penance as a baptism.

Through motifs of alchemy and Catholicism, hermit crab forms, and reflections on young adulthood, THE GIRL WHO DROWNED THE WHOLE WORLD contemplates how everyone can better themselves in difficult circumstances.

Written as prose poems, Cucú—and the accompanying cast—reckon with past choices to create a new present. Her best friend, Aimée, highlights how to live in mundanity while still feeling freedom; Leo, Cucú’s estranged childhood friend, demonstrates connection is not always worthwhile. The speaker’s mother, Ma, is referenced through memories and serves as an echo for Cucú. “Her Mother, the Alchemist” transmutes Ma into a higher being with her own scripture. In Cucú’s new religion she is visited by Raphael, a personification of her grief and her guide into a new life.

Throughout the book, certain poems represent Cucú’s efforts to make sense of reality. The sequence “Quiz at the Edge of the World” reimagines the onset of grief as a quiz, questioning if there is any easier way to cope. Poems like “Etymology of Return” and “I’m writing you an elegy at the edge of the world,” peel the layers of missing someone without sacrificing progress made toward healing. “On Reckoning & Reclamation” is a twenty-six page confession toeing the line between guilt and wonder.

THE GIRL WHO DROWNED THE WHOLE WORLD proposes new beginnings can be made anywhere, even at the edge of the world.

Completion Date

2025

Semester

Spring

Committee Chair

Thaxton, Terry

Degree

Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)

College

College of Arts and Humanities

Department

English

Identifier

DP0029381

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

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