Date of Award
5-2026
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School
Humanities
Committee Chair
Dr. Angela Ball
Committee Chair School
Humanities
Committee Member 2
Dr. Jennifer Peterson
Committee Member 2 School
Humanities
Committee Member 3
Dr. Christopher Spaide
Committee Member 3 School
Humanities
Committee Member 4
Dr. Alexandra Valint
Committee Member 4 School
Humanities
Abstract
Daughters is a collection of poems that navigates non-linear time and the intersections of grief, desire, and identity through the lens of motherhood, matrilineal trauma, friendship, and domesticity. The forms utilized in this manuscript further themes of obsession, anxiety, repetition, and cyclicality present in the poems. Daughters weaves together a bildungsroman-esque mythos of lyric and confessional poetry that challenges generational secrets through the act of sharing, telling. The collection seeks to expand poetic forms and techniques while retaining a conversational tone of warmth and humor that invites readers to sit down, as with a friend, to confront both the dark and the light in a woman’s life.
Copyright
Kathryn McKenzie, 2026
Recommended Citation
McKenzie, Kathryn, "Daughters" (2026). Dissertations. 2444.
https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/2444