Citation/Abstract

Aerie is a book-length collection of poems. The poems are ordered to create an emotional arc, from desperation to a stagnation that precedes the acceptance of mercy. These states resonate to connect poems of distinct experience, from teaching English in Korea to traveling through Cambodia and Thailand to the years following, when the speaker struggles to come to ethical terms with her new position as a property owner and landlord. In large part driven by a re-visioning of Christian spirituality and a deep desire to find and participate in a gratifying love, this manuscript follows the life and imagination of a questioning speaker as she negotiates varying positions of power.