The imperfection of healing : crafting lyric poetry from personal family challenge : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Creative Writing at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand. EMBARGOED until 1 May 2022

Abstract

How can lyric poetry be used to communicate a father's changing perceptions and emotional growth in caring for a child with autism? In writing about family health issues, we face many challenges as poets. Given the very particular nature of any given health situation, such as autism, we face the challenge of lifting the purely personal into one with broader significance. And given the entanglements of such experience with the trajectory of the circumstances, we face the challenge of engaging with that narrative without allowing it to subsume the impulses and pleasures of the lyric.--Excerpt