Theological Injuries

Abstract

Theological Injuries embodies my experience at Kalamazoo College. I was born to be a liberal arts student, having no desire to concentrate on one area of study. Though I declared as a Classics major, my academic pursuits sprawled far beyond that. I went down the Philosophy, Anthropology and Sociology, Psychology, and English tracks, along with delving deeply into the world of outdoors education and medicine through Kalamazoo College’s Outdoor Programs. Completing a poetry S.I.P. within the English department allowed me to use of all of those components in a way that was impossible in any other department. And while composing this collection, I learned how to wrangle all the bits I had learned from other poets, my own experience, ancient language and myth, Bible verses, and late night Internet searches into one, cohesive piece. Poetry has been my medium of choice since I began composing unrhymed, unskilled lines in elementary school. And my academic endeavors at Kalamazoo College have honed my narrative xi ability and poetic ego, allowing me to raise my voice to godhood through the completion of Theological Injuries. The poems contained in this work are the result of my balancing on and crossing the thresholds between student and poet, woman and non-binary, Western religion and Classical myth. I invite you to balance on and transition between those same thresholds with me. In the words of Horace, read them, count me among the other great poets of this age and “I will hit my exalted head on the stars.”