Abstract

I am drawn to the nature of routine as a means to understand trauma. A shift in habit can inform, or be informed by, a parallel change in psyche. What can our routines, in the days that follow assault/diagnosis/heartbreak/etc. tell us on a larger scale? How do our spaces, in turn, reflect these changes? I believe that the objects and practices which occupy a space are in direct correlation with the process of living with grief. A poem has the power to float or pace across the page: taking ownership of a space, or compressing itself neatly into a corner. As such, this genre is particularly apt for the work of embodying how spatiality plays into the process of attempting to overcome harm. The project approaches the above through both the poetic form and fiber arts pieces interspersed throughout the project, which serve as evidence of the speaker’s strained relationship with written expression, and their shifting coping mechanisms. The speaker in these poems is concerned with remembering. Snippets of past conversations, visited spaces, and half-baked memories ebb and flow throughout the piece as the seasons carry forward. There is a disconnect between the passage of time and the speaker’s desire to rest at “checkpoints” of certainty in the brain. Ultimately, the thesis concerns itself with healing by actively centering these poems in the body and space.