Keywords

poetry, poems, home, identity

Abstract

Every Person a Home Every Home a Person is a collection of poems that explores the meaning of “home” and the places where our homes are made. The collection consists of intertwining thematic threads that delve into what makes a home, including those found in physical houses, cultural identities and regional areas (in this case, Florida/the American South), other people, and personal identity. Through probing poems inspired by the author’s life and experiences as a queer, neurodivergent woman*, Every Person a Home Every Home a Person asks and tries to answer the question: what makes a home, and how do we deal with loss and change within one? Much of the collection, including the suite of poems titled “Rooms” in which the speaker walks through their childhood home, was conceptualized after disaster stuck there upon moving out after seventeen years. These poems serve as the anchor, or spine, of this project, and grapple with what it means to be able to picture a tragedy perfectly, to feel the grief of that tragedy and mourn that it would happen in such a beloved space, but to have ultimately had no part in it. This and many other dualities and contradictions are present in this collection and become apparent as we follow the main speaker through childhood and into adulthood. Ultimately, Every Person a Home Every Home a Person is a coming home to a place of healing, belonging, and selfhood. Through a variety of poetic forms and structures, themes, and lyric and narrative language-play, the collection navigates place and duality, attempting to reclaim the speaker’s many homes.

Completion Date

2024

Semester

Fall

Committee Chair

Hurt, Rochelle

Degree

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

College

College of Arts and Humanities

Department

English

Format

PDF

Identifier

DP0029019

Language

English

Release Date

12-15-2024

Access Status

Thesis

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

Accessibility Status

PDF accessibility verified using Adobe Acrobat Pro Accessibility Checker

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