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Virginia Tech

My Mother and Father Were Astronauts

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

In these lyric-narrative poems, the speaker is under constant threat of violence, trouble, danger, or death, but that death is never realized. Rather, the speaker, much like many of the lives in the desert, not only survives amidst the constant threat of violence, but flourishes because of it; the interior landscape of the speaker, the tenor of the language and syntax, and exterior landscapes implied in these poems are mirror surfaces, and as such, so are we. Despite the exterior world and relationships being arguably broken down, failed, impoverished, abandoned, etc., these poems gesture toward a sense of redemption, hope, reverence for life, and a kind of holiness that are found in the church of the desert. It has been said that the desert is monotheistic; if this is the case, then the speaker and the lives in these poems, despite being hardened by the desert, sing hymnals that celebrate that faith. There is a church in the wild.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Fine Arts
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Creative Writing
Department dc:contributor.department
English
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2015

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Katsimbras, Arian Nicholas
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Hicok, Robert G.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Meitner, Erika S.
  • D'Aguiar, Frederick M.

Subjects

dc:subject × 1

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:5401
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/52954

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
related terms
citation

Katsimbras, Arian Nicholas. My Mother and Father Were Astronauts. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/52954