Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2008
Capstone Advisor
Christopher Kennedy
Honors Reader
Claudia Klaver
Capstone Major
English
Capstone College
Arts and Science
Audio/Visual Component
no
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Creative
Subject Categories
Creative Writing | English Language and Literature
Abstract
This project is a collection of my poetry written and edited during three years of study and living while at Syracuse University. It is the attempt of a young woman to widen a specific avenue of self-discovery while working on my talents and skills as a writer and poet. Catch a Fire Catch Afire: An Understanding of Distance and Its Meaning is my pursuit of deconstructing how I become aware of: distance from myself, distance from my loved ones, distance from God, distance from places and distances from where I am at any given point in my life. The process of coming to terms with the complexities and intricacies of one’s own life can have a profound effect on the author, as well as the reader. Initiating that effect is an aim of this collection.
This project has changed gears several times, as creative endeavors often do. I am pleased, however, that each change was the result of an important and useful life experience. Every time I saw my work shifting into a new shape, I saw that it had transformed into a new understanding and perspective of distance.
My method for writing this collection was to write as often as possible in order to produce as many honest poems as I could. Typically my process included: I was inspired through various means and in turn sat down to create from that inspiration. After this first creation, I either let it sit for a few days or I would edit immediately after initially writing it. This depended greatly on how attached or invested I was in the particular poem.
With each poem, after I had written it for the first time, I would take the paper and tape it to my bedroom wall. After some time the wall was plastered in random pieces of paper. But looking at my work this way and following the many and different editions I had made allows me to see the progress of a particular poem, as well as the progression of many separate works all at once. I chose a number of poems from the wall to consider and edit at a time. This method is important because the stages the posted papers took echoed the stages of my own understanding of distance and its meaning.
Catch a Fire Catch Afire: An Understanding of Distance and Its Meaning has taken its final form and is ready to change the reader in a previously unknown poetic experience. I hope its effect finds you ready and willing.
Recommended Citation
Amodeo, Luciana, "Catch a Fire Catch Afire: An Understanding of Distance and Its Meaning" (2008). Honors Capstone Projects - All. 512.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/512
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
