Road/Map/Canvas

Abstract

The poems in this thesis explore the connection between imagination, space and belonging. Actual landscapes provoke imaginative responses. A small town in South Peru becomes the focus of desire, belonging and nostalgia. The landscape of South India becomes an imaginary home, while more familiar cities are seen through lenses of loss, regret, doubt and reconciliation. A section in the thesis focuses on the purely imaginative spaces depicted in paintings. These spaces evoke humor, promise and fear. The title "Road/Map/Canvas" unites the concept of places that are real and perceived, constructed and imagined. Apprehending real and imagined places alike through an artist’s eye, this thesis makes the case that places are not immutable givens. They are instead loci of potential that the imaginative perception can unlock and re-create; they are "homes" that are "yet unknown."