The Poetics of Postpartum: Dwelling in Poetic Space to Parent the Self

Explorations of how expressive writing improves physical and psychological health began with Pennebaker’s expressive writing experiments in 1986. Pennebaker found that the association between nonfiction writing about trauma and improved health was strong enough to warrant continued research on the practice. Since then, no studies on the health benefits of writing have yet been carried out that examine the efficacy of writing that is not trauma-centered, nor have any studies analyzed data using a poetic phenomenological method. This project asks whether a reflective, nonfiction writing practice that prioritizes rigor of craft and poeticization of language has similarly transformative effects on the writer, and offers a poetic response to the phenomenological question of what it is like for a body to dwell in the psychic, poetic space(s) opened up in the act of reflective writing. The project combines prose-poetic data on the experience of postpartum depression with poetic phenomenological analysis in the style of Bachelard (1969; 1994) to offer a poetic presentation of results indicating the supportive, consciousness-ordering sensations experienced by the writing, reflective body which contribute to an overall urge to move through life with intention and purpose. While conclusions offer no concrete guarantee that reflective nonfiction writing consistently amounts to any sort of “writing cure”, the results embody an enactment of a creative writing practice that pertains directly to the literacy-based, empowered development of the self in times of emotional need. The project suggests various focal points for replicating the practice and applying it in educational and personal settings.Ph.D