Date of Award:
5-2023
Document Type:
Thesis
Degree Name:
Master of Science (MS)
Department:
English
Committee Chair(s)
Michael Sowder
Committee
Michael Sowder
Committee
Benjamin Gunsberg
Committee
Jennifer Sinor
Committee
Beth Buyserie
Abstract
This thesis is a collection of poems examining certain paradoxes of my body. As a survivor of sexual violence, my body relives trauma which makes it feel uninhabitable. I compare my experiences with the Southern Utah desert. The physical beauty, destruction and inhabitability of the desert teaches me to accept my body as both beautiful and full of grief. The poems move chronologically through my life, beginning with an abusive relationship at the age of sixteen, a move to Moab at nineteen, and becoming a mother at twenty-five. Ultimately, with the desert as my guide, I learn to accept my body as unfixed and empowered through the use of my voice.
Checksum
10e242e4befd810d7546c51893f1cc9e
Recommended Citation
McKinnon, Lauren, "Desert Body" (2023). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023. 8778.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/8778
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