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AN ENDLESS FIELD OF WHITE by HEATHER MATESICH COUSINS (Under the Direction of Judith Ortiz Cofer) ABSTRACT This collection of poetry is a triptych—three discrete works of poetry set side-by-side, hinging on a shared concern with place. The introduction to the collection examines what drives these poems, contextualizing the dissertation as an existential act, a way of speaking to and against loss, an act that Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood has called “negotiating with the dead.” I am writing against the effacing power of time to memorialize people, places, and moments. The field, an image that appears in the dissertation, is connected to the field of the page; it is explored as a metaphor for possibility and transcendence. The first section of poetry, “Editations,” is in the style of erasures, a variation of found poetry, in which sections of geographical, ecological, and historical texts have been “whited-out;” the words that remain behind become a poem. The second section, “Ahnentafel,” is a long meditation on my ancestry, family stories, and memories of growing up in Northern Michigan. The final, titular section, “An Endless Field of White,” presents self-contained, imagistic poems, many set in a Midwestern, winter landscape. INDEX WORDS: Poetry, Michigan, Philip Levine, Victor Frankl, Diane Ackerman, Hasidism, Mindfulness, Jack Gilbert, Elizabeth Bishop, Margaret Atwood, John Ashbery, Erasure, Ecopoetics AN ENDLESS FIELD OF WHITE by HEATHER MATESICH COUSINS B.A., Bryn Mawr College, 2001 M.A., The Johns Hopkins University, 2002 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2009 © 2009 Heather Matesich Cousins All Rights Reserved AN ENDLESS FIELD OF WHITE by HEATHER MATESICH COUSINS Major Professor: Judith Ortiz Cofer Committee: Reginald McKnight Andrew Zawacki Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2009 DEDICATION For all their love and support, this dissertation is dedicated to my family: Erin, Gavin, Kaitlin, Gail, and Michael Matesich; and David Cousins. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to my committee, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Reginald McKnight, and Andrew Zawacki, for their excellent—and much appreciated—mentorship during my time at the University of Georgia. I would also like to thank my fellow graduate students, whose critiques, support, and friendship have been indispensible. Thank you to the editors of The Yalobusha Review for publishing “Late” and to Danielle Sellers, editor of The Country Dog Review, for publishing “The Field.” v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................................v FIELDS: A MEDITATION ON MORTALITY, LOCATION, AND IMAGINATION ................1 Works Cited.........................................................................................................................36 EDITATIONS................................................................................................................................39 AHNENFATEL.............................................................................................................................71 AN ENDLESS FIELD OF WHITE.............................................................................................117 Driving North ....................................................................................................................118 Bear Lake, Michigan .........................................................................................................119 What They Taught Us .......................................................................................................120 Manitous............................................................................................................................121 Bear Lake ..........................................................................................................................124 Treading Water..................................................................................................................125 Learning the Mystery ........................................................................................................126 Sadness ..............................................................................................................................128 Abeam ..............................................................................................................................129 High School.......................................................................................................................130 The Field............................................................................................................................132 Home Is Inside Us .............................................................................................................134 Ghost 1 ..............................................................................................................................135 vi Ghost 2 ..............................................................................................................................136 Ghost 3 ..............................................................................................................................137 Ghost 4 ..............................................................................................................................138 Ghost 5 ..............................................................................................................................139 Ghost 6 ..............................................................................................................................140 Ghost 7 ..............................................................................................................................141 Ghost 8 ..............................................................................................................................142 Ghost 9 ..............................................................................................................................143 Ghost 10 ............................................................................................................................144 Ghost 11 ............................................................................................................................145 Ghost 12 ............................................................................................................................146 Getting Through ................................................................................................................147 In Ossian, Iowa..................................................................................................................148 Passenger Pigeons .............................................................................................................150 A Spade .............................................................................................................................151 Heavier-than-Air Machine ................................................................................................152 Insects ...............................................................................................................................154 The Visitors .......................................................................................................................155 Ghost of a Chance .............................................................................................................157 Japanese Beetles................................................................................................................158 The Fall..............................................................................................................................159 Dog...... ..............................................................................................................................161 Runs…...............................................................................................................................162 vii My Dog..............................................................................................................................163 The Ice...............................................................................................................................164 Down… .............................................................................................................................166 Fathers. ..............................................................................................................................169 Giving................................................................................................................................170 Drawing Trees ...................................................................................................................172 Happiness ..........................................................................................................................173 The Melt ............................................................................................................................174 Gravity...............................................................................................................................175 Happening and Becoming .................................................................................................176

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