We Make Our Own Heaven Here
Abstract
The poems in We Make Our Own Heaven Here are grouped around a series of artistic and intellectual concerns. The opening section of We Make Our Own Heaven Here covers a wide range of distances, as well as a number of topics, but ultimately, the pieces are grounded in the variegated landscape of Texas. In terms of subject matter, these are poems of ambivalence and tension. In these pieces, the speaker comes up against the beauty of the natural world, but also the danger within it. The poems in the second section of We Make Our Own Heaven Here engage with non-human life. The poems here take three forms: the self-portrait, the still life, and the persona poem. These pieces are all written in free verse, but use the conventions of their aforementioned genres. The title of the third section invokes my poetic focus on border spaces, and serves to create a sense of closure between the manuscript title, and the titles of the first two sections. Ultimately, I find that the bioregional framework is a way to reconcile lifelong spiritual questions.
Subject Area
Creative writing
Recommended Citation
Whipple, Allyson Mary, "We Make Our Own Heaven Here" (2018). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI10808154.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI10808154