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Abstract
This dissertation contains two collections of poetry, one of my own entitled “Pulse,” and one of translations, from the Greek, of the poet Dimitra Kotoula. Both collections, as examined in the introduction, deal with the concrete and metaphorical concept of crossing boundaries. More concretely, throughout these poems, translations, and critical introduction, the narrator is constantly testing her own capacity for hard living, love, and travel. Whereas the translations’ boundary-crossing primarily entails the concept of survival during a major fiscal crisis, the poems’ boundary-crossing primarily entails acts of self-destruction, feelings of discomfort, and ultimate self-resurrection. Both genres, however, both involve the speaker and the actual author crossing into unknown and uncomfortable geographical territories, including Greece, Belize, and Guatemala. No matter what, though, the speaker and the author manage to claw their way out of worldly and self-made destruction and learn to be in the dark until they can actually see in the dark.
Resiliency is the thematic core of these collections and introduction, because ultimately, these works seek to interrogate how not only the speaker, but humanity as a whole, are able to live, love, and breathe despite the larger and local sufferings which occur, including war, mass shootings, and death.
