Publication Date

Spring 2011

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

English and Comparative Literature

Advisor

Samuel Maio

Keywords

Eds, family, father, ghost, poetry

Subject Areas

Fine Arts; Literature; American Literature

Abstract

This thesis project, Overlapping Mornings, is a book-length collection of poetry based upon my family. Throughout the collection I examine the lives of various family members, particularly my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. In exploring the lives of my progenitors through poetry's lens, I strive to discover my own role as a direct member of this male lineage.

Comprised of four parts, the collection generally follows a chronological order that begins with poems about my childhood and ends with poems of the present. Part Two is a prose section that includes important biographical information about my great-grandfather, Edwin Schivo. This section is told through the perspective of my grandmother and derives from the stories she has told me about her father--my great-grandfather--whom I never had the chance to know.

The primary intent of this prose section is to augment the sequence of ghost poems I have written about the ghost of my great-grandfather, Edwin. Edwin committed suicide at the house where I grew up, and I have used this traumatic event as a crucial component within my collection. I use the name "Eds" to refer to my great-grandfather's ghost. These ghost poems often use unconventional syntax as a way to blur the line between the real world that Eds visits and the ghostly world in which he lingers.

In bringing these poems together, I hope to suggest how the events of our past continually shape our present selves.

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