University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2015 Instant Conductors Mary Petralia University of Central Florida Part of the Creative Writing Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. STARS Citation Petralia, Mary, "Instant Conductors" (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 1466. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/1466 INSTANT CONDUCTORS by MARY PETRALIA A.A. Eastern Florida State College, 2008 B.A. University of Central Florida, 2012 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing in the Department of English in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Fall Term 2015 Major Professor: Russ Kesler © 2015 Mary Petralia ii ABSTRACT Instant Conductors is a collection of poems meant to engage the reader in conversation about the imperfect nature of the world in relation to the imperfect nature of readerly experience. Walt Whitman wrote, “I have instant conductors all over me whether I pass or stop / they seize every object and lead it harmlessly through me.” And so the things on these pages are intent on transmitting what one experiences in the minutiae of memory and routine: the sounds that surround a blackwater tidepool, what one imagines happens behind the closed doors of the friendly neighbors, or what’s heard in the whispers of an elderly man sitting in a waiting room.