A Way In is a collection of poems written between the years 2007 and 2011. Most of my work came from the desire to explore a person, topic, idea, or place in the world that fascinated or intrigued me, disgusted me, or left me in utter shock and sorrow. Such topics include the depositing of gum on a sidewalk, my grandmother’s suitemate in the nursing home, or the reason Americans are addicted to oil.
Poems have often been compared to photographs because of their depth, brevity of length, and eternal nature. While a photograph is just a piece of a larger whole, it is also unlimited in memory, the way poems are unlimited in their potential for content. Similarly, while studying the structure of one grain of sand under a microscope, one might find a piece of quartz; opaque or shining, multifaceted and full of depth. I ponder the unexplored and strive to turn this into words that best build an image or emotion.
This collection is not limited in terms of form. It includes formal verse, prose and free verse. Some poems started out in a different form and developed into something new. Sometimes this was a suggestion by a professor or colleague, sometimes just an inclination. I believe that my poems are never finished, which may have something to do with my admiration of the cyclic nature of poetry, and the desire to reach readers with a more intense and meaningful impact.
","abstract_html":"<p>A Way In is a collection of poems written between the years 2007 and 2011. Most of my work came from the desire to explore a person, topic, idea, or place in the world that fascinated or intrigued me, disgusted me, or left me in utter shock and sorrow. Such topics include the depositing of gum on a sidewalk, my grandmother’s suitemate in the nursing home, or the reason Americans are addicted to oil.</p> <p>Poems have often been compared to photographs because of their depth, brevity of length, and eternal nature. While a photograph is just a piece of a larger whole, it is also unlimited in memory, the way poems are unlimited in their potential for content. Similarly, while studying the structure of one grain of sand under a microscope, one might find a piece of quartz; opaque or shining, multifaceted and full of depth. I ponder the unexplored and strive to turn this into words that best build an image or emotion.</p> <p>This collection is not limited in terms of form. It includes formal verse, prose and free verse. Some poems started out in a different form and developed into something new. Sometimes this was a suggestion by a professor or colleague, sometimes just an inclination. I believe that my poems are never finished, which may have something to do with my admiration of the cyclic nature of poetry, and the desire to reach readers with a more intense and meaningful impact.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Goldstein, Laura Elizabeth"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Julia Johnson","Angela Ball","Kenneth Watson"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2011-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:44:41Z","subjects":["Creative Writing","Poetry"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/241","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Julia Johnson","Angela Ball","Kenneth Watson"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Goldstein, Laura Elizabeth"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2116-08-15T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Creative Writing","Poetry"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/241"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["A Way In is a collection of poems written between the years 2007 and 2011. Most of my work came from the desire to explore a person, topic, idea, or place in the world that fascinated or intrigued me, disgusted me, or left me in utter shock and sorrow. Such topics include the depositing of gum on a sidewalk, my grandmother’s suitemate in the nursing home, or the reason Americans are addicted to oil.
Poems have often been compared to photographs because of their depth, brevity of length, and eternal nature. While a photograph is just a piece of a larger whole, it is also unlimited in memory, the way poems are unlimited in their potential for content. Similarly, while studying the structure of one grain of sand under a microscope, one might find a piece of quartz; opaque or shining, multifaceted and full of depth. I ponder the unexplored and strive to turn this into words that best build an image or emotion.
This collection is not limited in terms of form. It includes formal verse, prose and free verse. Some poems started out in a different form and developed into something new. Sometimes this was a suggestion by a professor or colleague, sometimes just an inclination. I believe that my poems are never finished, which may have something to do with my admiration of the cyclic nature of poetry, and the desire to reach readers with a more intense and meaningful impact.
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Poems have often been compared to photographs because of their depth, brevity of length, and eternal nature. While a photograph is just a piece of a larger whole, it is also unlimited in memory, the way poems are unlimited in their potential for content. Similarly, while studying the structure of one grain of sand under a microscope, one might find a piece of quartz; opaque or shining, multifaceted and full of depth. I ponder the unexplored and strive to turn this into words that best build an image or emotion.
This collection is not limited in terms of form. It includes formal verse, prose and free verse. Some poems started out in a different form and developed into something new. Sometimes this was a suggestion by a professor or colleague, sometimes just an inclination. I believe that my poems are never finished, which may have something to do with my admiration of the cyclic nature of poetry, and the desire to reach readers with a more intense and meaningful impact.
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