Year of Award
2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Degree Name
Creative Writing (Poetry)
Department or School/College
English
Committee Chair
Brian Blanchfield
Commitee Members
Sean Hill, Scott Ferrenberg
Keywords
grief, landscape, place, queerness, family
Subject Categories
Poetry
Abstract
Set amidst the lakes and forests of Minnesota and Wisconsin, the poems in Surface Tension explore encounters with family, place, violence, queerness, death, and desire, following their speaker from childhood into adolescence and adulthood. Throughout, the collection invokes nature as a lens through which not only to see, but also to remember and hold close. Here, bodies of water and their occupants function as both buoying and submersive forces—bearing witness to, reflecting, and, at times, obstructing the speaker’s struggle to confront, archive, and make meaning from a life in the wake of destruction.
These poems demonstrate the way grief saturates every aspect of being, warping once-clear vision and turning solid ground into mud. At times resistant, at others complacent, the speaker of this collection asks their reader to stare unflinchingly beside them upon systems of harm and landscapes of loss, refusing, no matter the cost, to turn away.
Recommended Citation
Harman, Emily A., "Surface Tension" (2026). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 12744.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/12744
© Copyright 2026 Emily A. Harman