Side by side : a narrative poetry collection

Abstract

All stories stem from two setups: a stranger came to town or someone went on a journey. For me, these stories are not an either/or situation but a both/and. I was born, along with my older brother, in my mother's hometown of Buckhannon, West Virginia. My childhood was spent in my father's homeland of Poland. My missionary parents moved back to America in 1996 when my grandmother, on my mother's side, died. As a stranger, I journeyed south to Florida with my family. I call Orlando home, after living here for a dozen years.

My story is how I journeyed with my family as a boy from Poland to America and along the way felt tugged by both my parents' heritages. I considered my homeland strange, but took root as a man in the States. The unknown became familiar. When I entered college, half my life had been spent in Florida, in a balance with my childhood in Poland. Now the majority of my life has been spent here in Florida. Narrative poetry is a self-investment on the page. A collection of such poetry is as close to memoir. I tell my life story in these poems: I chronicle my change from a stranger to a local in this collection, highlighting my international experience, and explaining how home is three different places: Buckhannon, Warsaw, and Orlando.

Notes

This item is only available in print in the UCF Libraries. If this is your thesis or dissertation, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by downloading and filling out the Internet Distribution Consent Agreement. You may also contact the project coordinator Kerri Bottorff for more information.

Thesis Completion

2009

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Hemschemeyer, Judith

Degree

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

College

College of Arts and Humanities

Department

English

Degree Program

English

Subjects

Arts and Humanities -- Dissertations, Academic;Dissertations, Academic -- Arts and Humanities

Format

Print

Identifier

DP0022416

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Document Type

Honors in the Major Thesis

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