Something borrowed

Author

Toby Gordon M Emert

Date of Award

7-1996

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

English

Major Professor

Marilyn Kallet

Committee Members

Allen Wier, La Vinia Jennings

Abstract

I recall hearing that newborn infants literally need to be touched. caressed, understand love through the touch—that it is the body that responds to the touch, that it is the body of the infant that knows the truth of the hand or cheek touching it. The poems in this manuscript chronicle in some small way the beginning of an understanding: that the physical body knows truth when it is presented and that the language of the body is palpably greedy and is ultimately the language of reality. The speakers in these poems try on the masks of many, borrowing personas, searching for any that fit well, any that make it easier to understand this language of survival.

Recommended Citation

Emert, Toby Gordon M, "Something borrowed. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 1996.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/10823