Firefly curios and sundry lights

Authors

Maidel H. Barrett, Florida International University

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Major/Program

Creative Writing

First Advisor's Name

Campbell McGrath

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

John Dufresne

Third Advisor's Name

Mary Jane Elkins

Date of Defense

3-4-1997

Abstract

Firefly Curios and Sundry Lights contains 33 poems and 55 pages, mostly free verse lyric narratives issuing from various geographic, emotional, and temporal landscapes. The book is divided into four sections which might roughly be titled: "before," examining themes of childhood and death: "on-the-road," relaying the compulsion to travel, "odd-and- ends-limbo," including pieces which have no context within the time line; and "in-one- place-for-now," reflecting modes of communication, ordering, and longing. Other concerns include speculations about existence, observations of nature, and the importance of science as a means of apprehending the world. The work reveals a belief in the interconnectedness of mind and matter, combines seriousness and humor, and displays a sonic sensibility. These poems of solitude and observation are themselves vehicles, their motion a means of dislocation in order to find the self. Firefly Curios and Sundry Lights is smaller than a bread box and you can dance to it.

Identifier

FI14050443

Recommended Citation

Barrett, Maidel H., "Firefly curios and sundry lights" (1997). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1411.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1411