My collection, Arc, is about the struggle to become a human being and to find one’s own identity. Also, it is about how humans fall apart and come together on a regular basis – that we must find forgiveness – we must learn to love in even the most difficult circumstances – and we must, above all, continue to grow, and challenge our personal limits. Life does not contain us –it welcomes us – and that is part of the message I seek to convey through my writing. The imagery in my writing is grounded in my memories of my childhood and my experience growing up in a conservative, religious, affluent family while remaining a closeted gay woman until I was 35 years old. My imagery deals with masks and costumes that protect our true selves from being seen – to protect ourselves from judgment, criticism or condemnation. My poetry also speaks to my love of nature both in the Texas Hill Country where I was raised and in the East Texas woods where spent summers with my grandparents. My poetry follows the “arc” of my life from my earliest memories to the present.
","abstract_html":"<p>My collection, Arc, is about the struggle to become a human being and to find one’s own identity. Also, it is about how humans fall apart and come together on a regular basis – that we must find forgiveness – we must learn to love in even the most difficult circumstances – and we must, above all, continue to grow, and challenge our personal limits. Life does not contain us –it welcomes us – and that is part of the message I seek to convey through my writing. The imagery in my writing is grounded in my memories of my childhood and my experience growing up in a conservative, religious, affluent family while remaining a closeted gay woman until I was 35 years old. My imagery deals with masks and costumes that protect our true selves from being seen – to protect ourselves from judgment, criticism or condemnation. My poetry also speaks to my love of nature both in the Texas Hill Country where I was raised and in the East Texas woods where spent summers with my grandparents. My poetry follows the “arc” of my life from my earliest memories to the present.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Fountain, Lisa"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts - English","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Christine Butterworth-McDermott","Dr. Steven Marsden","Dr. Sarah Henning"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-12-19T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2017-12-19T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:15Z","subjects":["Poetry"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/144","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Christine Butterworth-McDermott","Dr. Steven Marsden","Dr. Sarah Henning"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Fountain, Lisa"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2017-12-15T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts - English"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Poetry"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/144"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["My collection, Arc, is about the struggle to become a human being and to find one’s own identity. Also, it is about how humans fall apart and come together on a regular basis – that we must find forgiveness – we must learn to love in even the most difficult circumstances – and we must, above all, continue to grow, and challenge our personal limits. Life does not contain us –it welcomes us – and that is part of the message I seek to convey through my writing. The imagery in my writing is grounded in my memories of my childhood and my experience growing up in a conservative, religious, affluent family while remaining a closeted gay woman until I was 35 years old. My imagery deals with masks and costumes that protect our true selves from being seen – to protect ourselves from judgment, criticism or condemnation. My poetry also speaks to my love of nature both in the Texas Hill Country where I was raised and in the East Texas woods where spent summers with my grandparents. My poetry follows the “arc” of my life from my earliest memories to the present.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Arc"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Christine Butterworth-McDermott","Dr. Steven Marsden","Dr. Sarah Henning"],"dc:creator":["Fountain, Lisa"],"dc:date.available":["2017-12-15T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["My collection, Arc, is about the struggle to become a human being and to find one’s own identity. Also, it is about how humans fall apart and come together on a regular basis – that we must find forgiveness – we must learn to love in even the most difficult circumstances – and we must, above all, continue to grow, and challenge our personal limits. Life does not contain us –it welcomes us – and that is part of the message I seek to convey through my writing. The imagery in my writing is grounded in my memories of my childhood and my experience growing up in a conservative, religious, affluent family while remaining a closeted gay woman until I was 35 years old. My imagery deals with masks and costumes that protect our true selves from being seen – to protect ourselves from judgment, criticism or condemnation. My poetry also speaks to my love of nature both in the Texas Hill Country where I was raised and in the East Texas woods where spent summers with my grandparents. My poetry follows the “arc” of my life from my earliest memories to the present.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/144"],"dc:subject":["Poetry"],"dc:title":["Arc"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts - English"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:15Z"}