In "Trauma and Genre," I explore, through a series of close readings, the relationship between free verse poetry's generic structure and the narration of violent and traumatic events. As I argue, the disruptive, open, and experimental structure of free verse poems reflects the fragmented and fragmenting crisis of violent experience itself and also epitomizes the disjunctive and uneasy access victims have to traumatic memories, a disjuncture that problematizes any narration of the violent and traumatic. Ultimately, through my focus on free verse poetry, I pursue the question: how do specific conceptions and definitions of generic forms--as forms shaped by various literary, cultural, financial and political forces and institutions--influence and define how writers and readers portray and understand violence and trauma?

I situate my exploration and discussion within the late-twentieth century American feminist movement to reflect on how the movement's poets used the free verse form as a way to rethink, rewrite, and challenge the conventional, dominant narratives that structured both public and private understandings of violence against women. The writers whose work I focus on include Judy Grahn, Ntozake Shange, Cherríe Moraga, Gloria Anzaldúa, Dorothy Allison, and Laura Esparza.