What Turtle Blood Tastes Like
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What Turtle Blood Tastes Like Item Type Thesis Authors Lamb, Jonas Citation Lamb, J. (2018). What Turtle Blood Tastes Like (unpublished MFA thesis). University of Alaska, Anchorage, Alaska. Publisher University of Alaska Anchorage Download date 29/09/2021 05:22:50 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/11122/11202 WHAT TURTLE BLOOD TASTES LIKE By John F. Lamb, MS Title Page A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF FINE ARTS in Creative Writing and Literary Arts University of Alaska Anchorage December 2018 © 2018 John F. Lamb APPROVED: Erin Coughlin Hollowell, MFA, Committee Chair Anne Caston, MFA, Committee Member Sherry Simpson, MFA, Committee Member David Stevenson, PhD, CWLA Program Coordinator Department of English Timothy Smith, DMA, Associate Dean for Fine Arts and Humanities College of Arts and Sciences John Stalvey, PhD, Interim Provost Graduate School Abstract What Turtle Blood Tastes Like explores acts of initiation and the packs we run with: wild boys, family, animal companions. Turtle blood acts as an elixir, opening doors to the muck of childhood, that coursing of heat and blood felt in the ears while walking the edge of right and wrong. In these poems fatherhood and home ownership are impending disasters that complicate the domestic landscape. Origin stories emerge unexpectedly from gardens, in bites of pickled whitefish and the gold foil of butterscotch candy. What routes have led us here, from what seeds have we grown? The critical essay, “Subverting Sentimentality in the Poetry of Parenthood,” scrutinizes elements of craft in contemporary American poetry that unpack tropes and reveal the overlooked undercurrents of parenting. iii iv Table of Contents Page Title Page ......................................................................................................................................... i Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ v Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................................... ix Subverting Sentimentality in the Poetry of Parenthood ................................................................. xi 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ xi 2. Beyond Theme: Taking Inventory of the Tools ................................................................... xvi 3. The Awed .............................................................................................................................. xx 4. The Conflicted .................................................................................................................... xxv 5. The Flawed ........................................................................................................................ xxxii 6. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ xxxvi Works Cited ............................................................................................................................ xxxvii Annotated Bibliography ........................................................................................................... xxxix What Turtle Blood Tastes Like ....................................................................................................... 1 What Turtle Blood Tastes Like ................................................................................................... 3 Going Over .................................................................................................................................. 4 Her Story ..................................................................................................................................... 6 When We Were Winged ............................................................................................................. 7 v View from Right.......................................................................................................................... 8 You Saw Me ................................................................................................................................ 9 Where God Was ........................................................................................................................ 10 Dirt Work .................................................................................................................................. 11 Lily Bud..................................................................................................................................... 13 Sounding.................................................................................................................................... 14 Ways We Connect ..................................................................................................................... 15 We Keep the Liquor in the Laundry Room ............................................................................... 16 All Under ................................................................................................................................... 17 Scale .......................................................................................................................................... 18 Lesser Devils ............................................................................................................................. 20 Wind God .................................................................................................................................. 23 Ways to Say Please ................................................................................................................... 24 Timeless .................................................................................................................................... 25 Five and Nine ............................................................................................................................ 26 Arrival ....................................................................................................................................... 28 Uncle ......................................................................................................................................... 29 Deferred Maintenance ............................................................................................................... 31 What it Was ............................................................................................................................... 33 It Matters ................................................................................................................................... 34 vi Night School .............................................................................................................................. 35 Snow Dance............................................................................................................................... 36 Keeping Control ........................................................................................................................ 37 Undertow ................................................................................................................................... 38 On a Kite String......................................................................................................................... 40 Before You Ask ......................................................................................................................... 43 Tree houses, Shipwrecks and Magic ......................................................................................... 45 Ragged, Loved .......................................................................................................................... 47 Ball Jar....................................................................................................................................... 48 Kaldūnai .................................................................................................................................... 50 Exposure .................................................................................................................................... 54 A Roof ....................................................................................................................................... 55 Brassica Oleracea ...................................................................................................................... 57 Fear of Rejection ....................................................................................................................... 59 Rounding Outer Point, Douglas Island ..................................................................................... 60 On the Move .............................................................................................................................. 61 Anything I can put ketchup on .................................................................................................. 62 Feared and Afraid .....................................................................................................................