Degrees of oblivion

Abstract

These poems are chiefly concerned with self-awareness and the degree to which each poem's individual speaker is, either voluntarily or involuntarily, oblivious to his or her particular circumstance within the poem. This idea of self-awareness is explored by creating situations within the poems which force speakers to react to such themes as infidelity, mortality, loss, isolation, identity, obsession, suicide, and insanity. The poems in this collection are situated within the scope of poetry from the latter half of the 20th century to today, as a few of the poet's primary influences are Sylvia Plath, Sharon Olds, Steven Dunn, and Tony Hoagland.