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Pieces of Me Returned: Maternal Poetry
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Dissertation
Pieces of Me Returned: Maternal Poetry
2017
Overview
My creative thesis is a personal collection of Maternal Poetry for publication. The thesis is a collection of fifty-four poems titled, “Pieces of Me Returned: Maternal Poetry.” My poetry uses narrative form to express my experiences as a daughter, mother, childbirth educator and doula. My poetry is influenced by feminist reader response to Adrienne Rich’s book, Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution. I also chose maternal poets such as Adrienne Rich, Sharon Olds, bell hooks and Audre Lorde to aid in developing a maternal/feminist voice for my poetry. My thesis is divided into three sections, A Woman Becomes A Mother, The Doula’s Diary, and Family Heirloom: Memories We Hold. The first section, “A Woman Becomes A Mother,” explores my own experience with motherhood and the physicality of how identity changes after pregnancy and birth. The poetry seeks to challenge the cultural expectations of woman as mothers. The second section, “The Doula’s Diary,” uses persona to develop a personal voice for each narrative poem. I interviewed several of my birth doula clients to explore the dichotomies of pregnancy, birth and motherhood based on their experiences. I also discussed the physicality of my own birth. The poetry in this section questions the traditional mindset that birth is terrifying, dangerous or painful but can be empowering, beautiful and gentle. In the last section, “Family Heirloom: The Memories We Hold,” I explore the roles and labels connected to parenting. My poetry in this section allows me to observe the wide variety of challenges in which a person faces as a daughter, mother or wife. My poetry discusses the progressively changing roles of parents by observing and discussing birth in several generations within my own family. Lastly, I wish my overall collection of poetry to tell the untold stories of motherhood through poetry.
