free-verse bodies

I might not put up many posts this year.  Not because I’m not thinking and writing, but because I am!  I’ve enrolled in a postgraduate diploma (effectively an Honours year) in creative writing at the University of Melbourne – dipping my toes into a short thesis.  Mine is tentatively titled “Free-Verse Bodies”.  I’m exploring how bodies that are visibly different or disabled express themselves in poetry.  In my research proposal, I wrote:

The essay considers poetry to be both deeply subjective and communal; it uses voice, rhythm and silence to communicate and to carry affect. This view of poetry is then combined with the insights of disability theorists to argue that the expression of bodily difference in poetry is a potent tool for breaking down the assumed rigid boundaries separating the self from the other, while respecting the particularity of bodies.

Of course, I’m interested in your thoughts, and I might well post now and then, to let you all know how I’m going, but forgive me if I’m a little quiet…  except for the tapping of keys…