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Date Available

5-10-2025

Year of Publication

2023

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

College

Arts and Sciences

Department/School/Program

English

Faculty

Dr. Julia Johnson

Faculty

Damaris B. Hill

Abstract

Anthology of a Mess is a collection of poems by Yusuf Akman, written at the University of Kentucky. Poems in this thesis deal examine the journey of a poet in three chapters. The first chapter examines myth-making, ekphrasis, and language. While the second one is a genre-defying work in which the modes of mockumentary, lyric essay, and fairy tale co-exist. Last but not least, the final chapter contains autobiographical poems, starting in Turkey and continuing in Kentucky. These poems explore eco-homo eroticism, roadkill, religion, and what it is like to be a queer Turk in Kentucky/the South. Throughout these sections, one can also examine how writing in a second language engenders many possibilities in the English language, how poetry can push the boundaries in terms of genre, and in fact, how it is a constructed term just like everything else.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2023.171

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