To Get There, She Had to Kill a Cow

Authors

Lissa BatistaFollow

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Major/Program

Creative Writing

First Advisor's Name

Denise Duhamel

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Second Advisor's Name

Julie Marie Wade

Second Advisor's Committee Title

committee member

Third Advisor's Name

Vernon Dickson

Third Advisor's Committee Title

commitee member

Keywords

creative writing, poetry

Date of Defense

10-26-2022

Abstract

TO GET THERE, SHE HAD TO KILL A COW is a poetry collection about sexuality and motherhood. The love poems navigate through different encounters, some ironically following the pattern of romance novels. There is a tone shift when the poems begin to explore home and childhood in Brazil. It reflects how the mother has impacted the speaker’s behavior growing up, and how it’s a reflection of her parenting with her child.

In terms of formal gestures, she has written short poems on astrology, and prose poems on Brazil. She has written ekphrastic poems for my mother, sonnets for my brother. The poems are sexy, confessional, and raw with emotion. Inspired by Maggie Nelson, Nikki Moustaki, and Ariana Reines— women authors who stepped outside of tradition, who dared to talk about sex and unhealthy family dynamics. Overall, this collection centers on multifaceted love.

Identifier

FIDC010938

Recommended Citation

Batista, Lissa, "To Get There, She Had to Kill a Cow" (2022). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5178.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/5178