Permanent Resident

This thesis emerges out of the author’s own experiences as a permanent resident of the USA in a time of increasing tension towards immigrants. As the poems progress they deal not only with the immediate political concerns, but also with the familial issues of living on another continent as the poems address the way distance adds an extra layer of strain the death of the author’s grandfather in early 2016. The thesis attempts to find a counterpoint to the increased sense of nationalism and distance through the use of music as a plane of aesthetic engagement that goes beyond nation. To this extent, it draws in more hybrid forms as it uses erasure poems made from the liner notes of several albums, and constructs playlist poems. Ultimately while the political tension remains the poems do find some degree of peace in the moments spent connecting with another individual over music