Date Approved

2025

Degree Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department or School

English Language and Literature

Committee Member

Christine Hume, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Laura J. George, Ph.D.

Abstract

Writers experiment with form inside poetry for various reasons, including a desire for play. Creating poetry is a creative process that involves experimentation. This research highlights poetry that adapts established nonfiction forms into poetry forms, examining poetry published in 2000-2024 by Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander American (AANHPI) writers and Black writers (writers of African ancestry) within the United States. For writers of color especially, nonfiction forms can provide a different way of entering into conversations about race, ethnicity, gender, identity, power, privilege, and authority. This research examines poetry by A. Van Jordan, Franny Choi, Alison C. Rollins, Victoria Chang, and Brittany Rogers. The forms these writers employ are varied including definitions, flow charts, tables, and obituaries. Sometimes adaptations of nonfiction forms are a better fit for the subject matter writers seek to express through poetry.

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