In the Middle: North of 45 Susan A
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Northern Michigan University NMU Commons All NMU Master's Theses Student Works 2012 In the Middle: North of 45 Susan A. Morgan Northern Michigan University Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.nmu.edu/theses Recommended Citation Morgan, Susan A., "In the Middle: North of 45" (2012). All NMU Master's Theses. 469. https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/469 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Works at NMU Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in All NMU Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of NMU Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. IN THE MIDDLE: NORTH OF 45 By Susan A. Morgan THESIS Submitted to Northern Michigan University In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of MASTER OF FINE ARTS Graduate Studies Office 2012 SIGNATURE APPROVAL FORM IN THE MIDDLE: NORTH OF 45 This thesis by Susan A. Morgan is recommended for approval by the student’s thesis committee in the Department of English and by the Dean of Graduate Studies. __________________________________________________________________ Committee Chair: Dr. Paul Lehmberg Date __________________________________________________________________ First Reader: Matthew Gavin-Frank Date __________________________________________________________________ Second Reader: Dr. Robert Whalen Date __________________________________________________________________ Department Head: Dr. Raymond Ventre Date __________________________________________________________________ Assistant Provost, Dean of Graduate Studies and Research: Date Dr. Brian Cherry OLSON LIBRARY NORTHERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY THESIS DATA FORM In order to catalog your thesis properly and enter a record in the OCLC international bibliographic data base, Olson Library must have the following requested information to distinguish you from others with the same or similar names and to provide appropriate subject access for other researchers. NAME: MORGAN, SUSAN A. DATE OF BIRTH: JULY 28, 1958 ABSTRACT IN THE MIDDLE: NORTH OF 45 By Susan A. Morgan The personal essays in this collection follow a loosened helix of experience, questioning, and reflections experienced during the author’s middle years. Three main themes emerge: the yearning to belong to a specific place – both geographical and spiritual; the tension between expectations imposed by the chaotic secular world and the writer’s emerging sense of spiritual identity – her resistance to labels; and, a celebration of the natural world which inspires in the author both a child-like sense of wonder and an awareness of the close presence of the One. It is a celebration, a love story: of place, of family, and of the power of language to lift us up toward joy. i Copyright by Susan A. Morgan 2012 ii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to the children of my middle years, Kendra, Alex, and Ben, and to their father, who carried me to this place. I am profoundly grateful. The thesis is also dedicated to my husband, Jim, who keeps me here in wonder and in joy. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As a (mostly) retired perfectionist, I am convinced I would never have taken up pen and paper were it not for the encouragement and support of the community of writers I encountered at Northern Michigan University: Dr. Ron Johnson, who first invited me in; Dr. Beverly Matherne and Allison Hedge-Coke; the visiting writers, Dr. Patricia Foster and Dr. Sheryl St. Germain; Laura Soldner, the most recent in a long chain of memorable teachers. Laura, you inspire all of us to offer our best selves. To my thesis readers, Mattew Gavin-Frank and Dr. Rob Whalen. Thank you. With deep respect and gratitude, I thank my thesis director, Dr. Paul Lehmberg who held my hand to the fire, expecting always just a little push more than I thought I had to give… who gently prodded me one night following an orchestra concert at the middle school: “Just get back on the horse and ride. It’ll come back to you.” And it did. Thank you, also, to my many workshop companions along the way, especially Mary Kay, Emily, and Sarah who first pronounced– “of course you’re a real writer!” To Ginny – who read tenderly - and to all the rest of my church family at First United Methodist Church: thank you. To my sisters in sobriety (and a couple of fairly cool men – Bob S. and Brad V.): you were there to lead me out of the chaos. You’re still there as we laugh ourselves sore over coffee, toast, and – often – chocolate. Third from last – thank you to my children, who were mostly patient while I finished just one last sentence, “in the zone,” lost for hours in my words. iv Second to last – my husband, Jim. I hope my affection and respect shine through at least some of these lines. I am often distracted. You have been patient. Finally – I recall and bless my parents, George and Ann Martin, who summer after summer piled three girls into the back of a Mercury station wagon and headed west and north, over prairies and mountains, then home – pulling a red Apache camper behind… with me, sitting in the middle, dreaming my dreams and thinking my long, slow thoughts. It was a gift, a time, I can never repay. I was one lucky little girl. This thesis follows the format prescribed by the MLA Style Manual and the Department of English. v TABLE OF CONTENTS A Conversation with the Author ..................................................................... 1 PART I – Lake ............................................................................................... 19 Burying a Finn ............................................................................................... 20 Speaking Finn ................................................................................................ 21 Empty ............................................................................................................. 44 PART II – Forest ........................................................................................... 68 Qui Quoligentes Folia: The Collector ............................................................ 69 Chiasmus ........................................................................................................ 88 Beautiful ......................................................................................................... 89 Drought .......................................................................................................... 115 Leaving Forest ............................................................................................... 116 Max ................................................................................................................ 143 PART III – Sky ............................................................................................... 152 Taxidermy ...................................................................................................... 153 Strange Lights ................................................................................................ 155 Learning to Pray ............................................................................................. 165 Zona Pelucida................................................................................................. 186 The Fishing One ............................................................................................. 187 Camped on the Greenwood Reservoir after a Poor Day of Fishing .............. 207 Works Cited ................................................................................................... 208 vi A CONVERSATION WITH THE AUTHOR One late February afternoon, I caught up with myself – the emerging memoirist, Susan Morgan – as I put the finishing touches on my first collection of essays: In the Middle. I was pleasantly surprised at the discovery; I’d been mostly missing for some time, dodging home, family, and friends – hoarding hours spent huddled over a small round table tucked into the corner of the George Shiras Room of the Peter White Library, in downtown Marquette, Michigan. I was not surprised to note my dishevelment. I often emerge after hours of feverish writing with my hair twisted in knots from running exasperated hands through its swinging bob; its color, “golden brown,” so proclaimed my dad when I was three. I now call it “retro-enhanced,” with threads of silver at the roots. I was not at all surprised to note my dress: loose black yoga pants furred in a fine layer of cat hair: take your pick from white, gray, or brown – our cats generously share the color spectrum. My roomy fleece pullover almost covered the accumulated effects of croissants, hot chocolate and other necessary winter habits. I can no longer be called anything like “svelte.” The room where I write is lined with solid oak bookshelves and dusty tomes sporting titles such as American Game Bird Shooting and Hunting Camps in Wood and Wilderness. Shiras’ night-time flash photo prints of whitetail deer peer down at us, their eyes startled white marbles, white tales flashing indignantly as they leap away toward the sheltering margin of forest and swamp. Tall windows give the impression of an eagle’s nest surrounded by water and trees, paired images that inform much of this first collection of essays. 1 Why here? I wondered. What was it about this public space that opened me up to writing? Wouldn’t real north woods writers tuck themselves away in some cabin, camp or cottage they’d borrowed from friends near a shore or out in the woods? Places with names like “UP Here” and “Bide-a-While?” “Ironic isn’t it?”