Atkinson, JenniferDandrea, Alyssa2015-08-042020-04-272015-08-04https://hdl.handle.net/1920/9711This work was embargoed by the author and will not be publicly available until April 2020.This thesis confronts belief in both the seen and unseen, the forces that exist outside the self, and the transformative power of memory, story telling and loss. Each poem examines and names a human sadness explored most often by the same speaker—a daughter—who is searching for an understanding of her own traumas, loneliness and simultaneous reproach of and desire for the divine. At times the speaker turns to nature to soften the violence she experiences and witnesses in the domestic sphere, but in that natural landscape, she only encounters new monsters of mythical origin, i.e.: Big Foot, werewolves and mermaids. Yet within these fantastical encounters, the speaker is able to more fully reveal her hope for humankind and the truth about her own sins and flaws as well as those of her family members. The poems here are strange and magical; they are uncanny and lyrical. They are obsessed with the heart and with finding a way to survive.enBeliefGood/evilMythFamily narrativeMonstersHouseThesis