Objects/Slow Hours

Authors

Camila E. Saavedra, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Major/Program

Creative Writing

First Advisor's Name

Julie Marie Wade

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

Denise Duhamel

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Third Advisor's Name

Anne Castro

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Keywords

poetry, experimental poetry, disability, disability theory, illness, cancer

Date of Defense

3-1-2021

Abstract

OBJECTS/SLOW HOURS is a collection of experimental poetry that aims to illustrate the reconfiguration of identity post-trauma. Using spatial play and non-linear storytelling, these poems follow the experiences of a chronic cancer patient through various cycles of illness and recovery. This narrative is told in three interwoven parallel structures, allowing the speaker to project consciousness into objects and animals, while simultaneously revisiting instances of isolated suffering and reflecting on medical treatment procedures.

OBJECTS/SLOW HOURS’s literary influences include Maggie Nelson, Lisa Glatt, and Audre Lorde, whose illness narratives have similarly confronted ideas of embodiment, subjectivity/objectivity, and social (in)visibility. In this collection, the speaker addresses major tenets of disability theory, such as materialism, the cost of the medical commitment to healing, and the role of disability in the larger fabric of society.

Identifier

FIDC009569

Recommended Citation

Saavedra, Camila E., "Objects/Slow Hours" (2021). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4683.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/4683