Date of Award

6-2016

Document Type

Project

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

Department

English

First Reader/Committee Chair

Delgado, Juan

Abstract

The Bronx Cocked Back And Smoking is a collection of multifarious prose performances recounting the historical, personal, social, political and cultural constructs of a city birthed by violence. This body of work is accompanied by video, audio, photography, and theatre performance texts. St. Mary’s Housing project, in the Bronx, is the foundation where most of this literary work takes place. The modern day Griot (storyteller) is a Poet, guiding his audience through the social inequalities and disparities that plague St. Mary’s community. The Poet shares personal traumatic insights while simultaneously utilizing writing as a form of survival to the conditions of the Bronx. This multi-platform performance highlights the metaphorical and physical concerns with the cycle of violence. This question is answered through the Poet’s choice by selecting the pen over the gun.

Included in

Poetry Commons

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