Date of Award
5-2026
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.F.A.
Degree Program
Creative Writing
Department
English
Major Professor
Carolyn Hembree
Second Advisor
Kay Murphy
Third Advisor
Jade Hurter
Abstract
i am my own city eating myself whole is a poetry collection in three sections, concerning the speaker of these poems' relationship with spirituality, sexuality, addiction, trauma, and the great distance between one place and another. Unabashed in its confrontation of the visceral and transgressive, this collection seeks to reconcile memory with the present.
With received and nonce forms, the collection as a whole aims to use the lyrical “I” to explore parts of the self that are both shattered and repressed. Often shirking directness, the speaker in this collection attempts to make peace with a troubled past, while committing to the acceptance of an uncertain future. Humorous at times, bleak at others, i am my own city eating myself whole is an agreement between reader and poet on allowing the messiness inside everyday life mingle with the confusion of making meaning on the page.
Recommended Citation
Fluet, Ben, "i am my own city eating myself whole" (2026). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 3371.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/3371
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.