Current Search:   Stap, Donald (x)

View All Items

  • CSV Spreadsheet
(1 - 12 of 12)
BETWEEN CONTINENTS
Title
BETWEEN CONTINENTS.
Creator
Hassan, Mona, Stap, Donald, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
"Between Continents" is a collection of thirty-two poems. The most challenging aspect of finding the right voice and the appropriate metaphors in "Between Continents" has been the difficulty in assimilating a diversity of traditions within my own work. The polarity of aesthetic values is a well known feature of contemporary American poetry. Charles Webb in his essay on the competing aesthetics in poetry uses the metaphor of apples and orangutans to point out how exaggerated this difference...
Show more"Between Continents" is a collection of thirty-two poems. The most challenging aspect of finding the right voice and the appropriate metaphors in "Between Continents" has been the difficulty in assimilating a diversity of traditions within my own work. The polarity of aesthetic values is a well known feature of contemporary American poetry. Charles Webb in his essay on the competing aesthetics in poetry uses the metaphor of apples and orangutans to point out how exaggerated this difference really is. Jorie Graham sees in the way young writers today are simultaneously influenced by elements of poets whose philosophies mutually exclude each other "without feeling the need to be accountable to the beliefs that gave birth to those voices and styles they imitate" a testament to "the history of how any art form breaks through a period style." My personal struggle, in locating the values that I brought into my reading and writing of poetry involved making peace between combating impulses of personal confession and impersonal abstraction.
Show less
Date Issued
2006
Identifier
CFE0001384, ucf:46983
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001384
Nothing Buried Stays Buried
Title
Nothing Buried Stays Buried.
Creator
Porven, Stephanie, Thaxton, Terry, Uttich, Laurie, Stap, Donald, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Nothing Buried Stays Buried is a collection of poems that embraces raw imagery, threads of magical realism, and allusions to classical mythology in an attempt to make sense of the tangible and intangible losses experienced by its speakers. Told through the voices of confessional speakers who struggle with loneliness, identity, faith, and death, the collection aims to delve into contrasting themes that have long been perpetuated by Greek and Roman mythology: passionate love and violent death,...
Show moreNothing Buried Stays Buried is a collection of poems that embraces raw imagery, threads of magical realism, and allusions to classical mythology in an attempt to make sense of the tangible and intangible losses experienced by its speakers. Told through the voices of confessional speakers who struggle with loneliness, identity, faith, and death, the collection aims to delve into contrasting themes that have long been perpetuated by Greek and Roman mythology: passionate love and violent death, liberation and violation, the natural alongside the celestial. Poems such as (")What You Left Behind,(") (")Loneliness Braids My Hair,(") and (")If You Die First(") dwell on the idea of loss not as a past occurrence, but as an active emotional experience that can haunt an individual, follow them throughout their daily life and into their dreams like their shadow. Speakers within the collection reexamine memories of withered relationships and explore imaginary realms (a floating island and the second circle of hell, for example) in their search for answers to the questions: What do we make of loss? And how do we go on after something or someone has been lost to us: a pair of saltwater earrings, a loved one, a part of ourselves which has left a throbbing absence we still carry in our hearts?
Show less
Date Issued
2018
Identifier
CFE0007076, ucf:52012
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007076
The Poems You Don't Own
Title
The Poems You Don't Own.
Creator
Reinhardt, Emma, Thaxton, Terry, Stap, Donald, Uttich, Laurie, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The Poems You Don't Own is a collection of poems whose speakers explore the journey from the simplistic perspective of childhood to the confusion of adolescence to the first experiences of sexuality, heartbreak, and grief, examining the religious, societal, and gender expectations that influence those experiences. The collection's reverse-chronological order allows readers to travel back through the many experiences that shape a present moment. In poems such as (")The Game of Life,(") the...
Show moreThe Poems You Don't Own is a collection of poems whose speakers explore the journey from the simplistic perspective of childhood to the confusion of adolescence to the first experiences of sexuality, heartbreak, and grief, examining the religious, societal, and gender expectations that influence those experiences. The collection's reverse-chronological order allows readers to travel back through the many experiences that shape a present moment. In poems such as (")The Game of Life,(") the speaker considers the gender roles that begin to influence our perception of relationships from a young age, while poems such as (")What to Know Before Writing about Heartbreak(") explore how societal perceptions can seek to control the very expression of emotional pain. The speakers struggle with masculine and feminine in an effort to unravel the association between emotional expressiveness and feminine (")weakness(") as well as reveal the harmful consequences of perceiving emotional repression as a feature of masculine (")strength.(") Amid these gender explorations, the collection often returns to speakers seeking to understand the heartbreak of failed relationships and almost-loves. By probing this universal experience, these poems chronicle the loss, confusion, and reclaiming of identity as the speakers rediscover that their story was never about (")you.(")
Show less
Date Issued
2019
Identifier
CFE0007521, ucf:52628
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007521
I Have Questions
Title
I Have Questions.
Creator
Matejowsky, Lorena, Thaxton, Terry, Stap, Donald, Uttich, Laurie, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The poems in this thesis explore mid-life feminism, family, mental illness via anxiety and panic, identities of southern girlhood/womanhood, and the challenges of a social media saturated life. Mothering plays a large part in many of these poems, both embracing it and confronting gendered expectations about it. Telling the truth is explored through poems about white women's complicity in racist systems in the southern United States and how being quiet about it benefits us. Fear and the myriad...
Show moreThe poems in this thesis explore mid-life feminism, family, mental illness via anxiety and panic, identities of southern girlhood/womanhood, and the challenges of a social media saturated life. Mothering plays a large part in many of these poems, both embracing it and confronting gendered expectations about it. Telling the truth is explored through poems about white women's complicity in racist systems in the southern United States and how being quiet about it benefits us. Fear and the myriad ways it has manifested in my life is a common thread in this work, especially the fears that accompanied white girls growing up in the Southern U.S. during a time of shifting societal roles and cultural values. The speaker in these poems both deny and celebrate the cultural, political, and environmental influences that shaped her early years. As a feminist poet in mid-life with a teenaged daughter and a teen and pre-teen son, I have a tenuous relationship with the influence of mass media. Controlling screen-time for my children and monitoring my own intake of news, braggadocio and ex-boyfriends on social media is a constant, anxiety laden burden. I am more comfortable in a world that does not always revisit itself. I have spent years trying to erase the effects of Texas big hair, provocative clothing, alcohol, and sexually explicit music, video and advertising on my life. Other times I yearn for an escape back. Poetry challenges me to look backward with bravery. These poems reflect the forces of memory and modernism that both limit and liberate modern women. In Trump's America where women are demeaned and silenced through populist rhetoric and legislation, it is more important than ever to magnify female, truth-telling voices and this collection is intended to contribute to positive change.
Show less
Date Issued
2019
Identifier
CFE0007499, ucf:52652
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007499
An Uncurling Hand: Isolation in Public Places
Title
An Uncurling Hand: Isolation in Public Places.
Creator
Lundblom, Kimberly, Thaxton, Terry, Stap, Donald, Hubbard, Susan, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The creative thesis "An Uncurling Hand: Isolation in Public Places" is a collection of poetry concerned with ideological dichotomies: conventional domestication against the exotic, class divides and its implications for identity, and most importantly the feeling of isolation even when surrounded by others.
Date Issued
2011
Identifier
CFE0004130, ucf:49111
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004130
Pearl Necklaces
Title
Pearl Necklaces.
Creator
Redmond, Jordan, Thaxton, Terry, Stap, Donald, Neal, Mary, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Pearl Necklaces aims to excavate raw moments of connection and find beauty in the depravity of self and situation. Set in the Deep South, this collection of poems thrives on lusty nights, hard love, and the twinge of memory. The voices within range from youthful to jaded as they speak across pages, flowing into one another to create a pain-body which ultimately seeks closure in relationships with objects, family, drugs, lovers, body parts, heroes, and setting. Tuned to the lyrical voices of...
Show morePearl Necklaces aims to excavate raw moments of connection and find beauty in the depravity of self and situation. Set in the Deep South, this collection of poems thrives on lusty nights, hard love, and the twinge of memory. The voices within range from youthful to jaded as they speak across pages, flowing into one another to create a pain-body which ultimately seeks closure in relationships with objects, family, drugs, lovers, body parts, heroes, and setting. Tuned to the lyrical voices of poets Kim Addonizio, Lynn Emanuel, and Dorianne Laux, poems such as (")Learning Shapes,(") (")Things that Make Me Feel Cool,(") (")Can't Say Daddy, and (")Don't Miss Mississippi(") seek out what makes up a person as the collection continues to practice manipulation with language, tradition, and context in works like (")Pearl Necklaces(") and (")Golden Boy.(") Faithfully and sarcastically, these collected poems drive to the fuzzy edges of attachment and never come back.
Show less
Date Issued
2016
Identifier
CFE0006489, ucf:51394
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006489
The Sleepless Ouroboros
Title
The Sleepless Ouroboros.
Creator
Bohl, Grant, Stap, Donald, Thaxton, Terry, Uttich, Laurie, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The poems in The Sleepless Ouroboros are about the obsessions which come to define a person. These obsessions are memories, dreams, objects or ideas that cannot be separated from the whole. Poems such as (")Thinking of Big Moe(") and (")It Begins with a Fox(") grapple with the limitations of memory, while poems such as (")The Python(") and (")Heirloom(") counterpoint memory's weakness with the supposed permanence of physical artifacts. Depression and anger, the anxieties of identity and...
Show moreThe poems in The Sleepless Ouroboros are about the obsessions which come to define a person. These obsessions are memories, dreams, objects or ideas that cannot be separated from the whole. Poems such as (")Thinking of Big Moe(") and (")It Begins with a Fox(") grapple with the limitations of memory, while poems such as (")The Python(") and (")Heirloom(") counterpoint memory's weakness with the supposed permanence of physical artifacts. Depression and anger, the anxieties of identity and displacement, and representations of the people and animals that leave lasting impact on a life are all addressed as vital components of the completed speaker. In the middle of the collection (")The Mad Scientist Sleeps(") and (")Through Milk and Oil(") surround (")Insomnia and Autocannibalism,(") reaching the core of the speaker's identity throughout the collection, imagined, present, or past. The collection, like its namesake the ouroboros, ends in the same place it begins. This cyclical motion through the collection seeks to bring the varying voices throughout into a complete, if conflicted whole.
Show less
Date Issued
2017
Identifier
CFE0006568, ucf:51345
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006568
Because You Are Beautiful and Dead
Title
Because You Are Beautiful and Dead.
Creator
Amey, Yvonne, Thaxton, Terry, Stap, Donald, Uttich, Laurie, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The poems in Because You Are Beautiful and Dead deal with dysfunctional people, substance abuse, loss, and death and dying. The poems also highlight the struggle of the poet/speaker finding her place in a hideous world, which, paradoxically, she really doesn't want to belong. The poems are influenced by the playful and sad imagery and subject matter of poet Matthew Dickman. These poems, like Dickman's, are assessable and quirky. Michael Earl Craig and Terrance Hayes are two other influences....
Show moreThe poems in Because You Are Beautiful and Dead deal with dysfunctional people, substance abuse, loss, and death and dying. The poems also highlight the struggle of the poet/speaker finding her place in a hideous world, which, paradoxically, she really doesn't want to belong. The poems are influenced by the playful and sad imagery and subject matter of poet Matthew Dickman. These poems, like Dickman's, are assessable and quirky. Michael Earl Craig and Terrance Hayes are two other influences. Hayes' work is artistic and experimental. Michael Earl Craig's poems have a brilliance that isn't fueled in its complex or radical subject matter, but by the ability to see into the human condition in its most simple form. These poems are interested in language and form. The speaker in it often wants to tell someone I am sorry that I have forgotten you. You are still here, inside my poems. The poems bring people back to life. Sometimes these people are symbolic(-)not any specific person(-)but rather a representative of loss. Mostly the speaker wants to highlight the absurd and dysfunctional nature of humankind without any need to offer a remedy. Humans are predictable narcissists, they mess up their children, talk too much, and simply annoy. These poems are not predictable, boring, or always so fundamentally normal.
Show less
Date Issued
2017
Identifier
CFE0006556, ucf:51335
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006556
The Gasoline Tree
Title
The Gasoline Tree.
Creator
Manning, Brianne, Thaxton, Terry, Stap, Donald, Milanes, Cecilia, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
In exploration of Millennial anxieties and the power of dreaming, The Gasoline Tree imagines a soundtrack for the revelations, defeats, and curiosities of leaving childhood behind. This is a collection of 40 poems that examines eating disorders, gender roles, physical abuse, sex, infidelity, loneliness, and the fear of losing one's parents. This collection also contemplates the brutalities and muted delights of what drives us all: love, in all of its forms. (")The Gasoline Tree,(") (")Wolf of...
Show moreIn exploration of Millennial anxieties and the power of dreaming, The Gasoline Tree imagines a soundtrack for the revelations, defeats, and curiosities of leaving childhood behind. This is a collection of 40 poems that examines eating disorders, gender roles, physical abuse, sex, infidelity, loneliness, and the fear of losing one's parents. This collection also contemplates the brutalities and muted delights of what drives us all: love, in all of its forms. (")The Gasoline Tree,(") (")Wolf of Chocorua,(") and many other poems construct New England landscapes that pay homage to the pastoral uniqueness of Maxine Kumin and Galway Kinnell, while poems in the latter half of the collection, such as (")Home Alone(") and (")Little Big Econ,(") rouse depictions of southern environments and intensify the narrator's budding sense of displacement. There are many voices within, but there are three particular voices that can be heard above the rest: the child struggles with the complexities of divorce and identity; the young woman struggles with the complexities of remorse and relationships; the woman struggles with reminiscence and loss. Yet, each voice works toward expressions of awareness and acceptance of the enduring captivation with impermanence and consequence in a disposition influenced by W.S. Merwin, Anne Sexton, Kay Ryan, and Louise Gl(&)#252;ck. Whether driving by a homeless man, staring at the ceiling fan, or lying awake late into the night, this collection examines the transient nature of everyday occurrences and the buried meanings that might govern them all.
Show less
Date Issued
2016
Identifier
CFE0006139, ucf:51181
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006139
Two Tongues
Title
Two Tongues.
Creator
Ghannam, Lana, Thaxton, Terry, Kesler, Russ, Stap, Donald, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
"Two Tongues" is a collection of poems that explores the societal norms that mixes American and Middle Eastern cultures. The use of sensory language empowers the speaker of these poems to break the barrier between both cultures and mold them into one significant place(-)the individual. Within these poems lie the exploration of identity(-)both religiously and culturally(-)through the speaker's family upbringing and her social settings, as well as the use of spoken language.This collection...
Show more"Two Tongues" is a collection of poems that explores the societal norms that mixes American and Middle Eastern cultures. The use of sensory language empowers the speaker of these poems to break the barrier between both cultures and mold them into one significant place(-)the individual. Within these poems lie the exploration of identity(-)both religiously and culturally(-)through the speaker's family upbringing and her social settings, as well as the use of spoken language.This collection attempts to convey the struggles of a bicultural background through use of pure metaphor and sound play where language(-)Arabic and English(-)is an essential element to the collection. Contained within these lyrical poems is the hope for acceptance, love, and humanity, and that all lands will unite as a common people. The speaker searches for self in each poem with an insatiable curiosity, one that will no longer fear expression.
Show less
Date Issued
2015
Identifier
CFE0005619, ucf:50221
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005619
Stranger Species
Title
Stranger Species.
Creator
Latham, Devin, Thaxton, Terry, Stap, Donald, Kesler, Russ, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Stranger Species is a collection of interconnected personal and lyrical essays that illustrate and dissect the biological and psychological forces that drive humans to act. While essays in the collection prove the narrator's need to believe that we are animals first and human beings second and that sex and persistence to survive are proof of our animalism, essays simultaneously counter-argue that humans(-)our emotions, weaknesses, and consciousness(-)are unique to our species, separating us...
Show moreStranger Species is a collection of interconnected personal and lyrical essays that illustrate and dissect the biological and psychological forces that drive humans to act. While essays in the collection prove the narrator's need to believe that we are animals first and human beings second and that sex and persistence to survive are proof of our animalism, essays simultaneously counter-argue that humans(-)our emotions, weaknesses, and consciousness(-)are unique to our species, separating us from the animal world. Throughout the collection, fear resonates that we do not control our desires and ultimately our lives, that biology and our deep seeded psychological inadequacies drive us blindly and often recklessly towards our species' survival never asking for our permission, leaving us to wonder why we do the strange things that we do. The narrator uses research and her experience to explore genetics, reproduction, desire, loneliness, binding societal constructions, control, and loss.
Show less
Date Issued
2014
Identifier
CFE0005516, ucf:50323
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005516
Forced Outage
Title
Forced Outage.
Creator
Jackson, Caitlin, Stap, Donald, Kesler, Thomas, Roney, Lisa, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
ABSTRACTThis collection of poems explores an inner emotional life contrasted with a plodding existence inthe external world of day to day business as usual. The poems embrace the importance of notingmoments of beauty and grace in an otherwise bland landscape, and mourn the difficulty ofholding onto such moments as life moves forward.These poems lead the way down bumpy emotional roads and explore the struggle to makehuman connections in simple circumstances. Most important, they attempt to...
Show moreABSTRACTThis collection of poems explores an inner emotional life contrasted with a plodding existence inthe external world of day to day business as usual. The poems embrace the importance of notingmoments of beauty and grace in an otherwise bland landscape, and mourn the difficulty ofholding onto such moments as life moves forward.These poems lead the way down bumpy emotional roads and explore the struggle to makehuman connections in simple circumstances. Most important, they attempt to capture the beautyof the connections that come from these struggles, and the triumphant promise that we are notalone.
Show less
Date Issued
2013
Identifier
CFE0004694, ucf:49850
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004694