Reres, Shannon Elizabeth2023-12-152023-12-152023-12-14vt_gsexam:39180https://hdl.handle.net/10919/117200"transgression" is a poetry collection with claws and nail polish. Across four acts, Reres uses a chorus of voices to interrogate the role of the transgressing woman—both present and past, privately and publicly. Transgressing, for Reres, is a performance. Moreover, it is a performance in which women have been asked, coerced—even forced—to participate for millenia. By stepping into the role of the transgressing woman deliberately, Reres turns this tradition on its head. In these pages, she shows that there is power in putting on masks and costumes, just as there is power in taking them off. The difference—between performance as power and performance as prison—resides in the freedom to choose.ETDenIn CopyrightappetiteaudiencebeliefbluebodybonesbrokenchurchclothcupcurtainsdebtdogflowersflyfragmentsfruitgardenGodgroundhellidealinterruptionintermissionlightThesis