“Woken Word” was born as my inner voice was awakening and the world, ironically was becoming “woke” while simultaneously retreating into isolation.
"The following autoethnographic poetry represents the experience of being a casual academic negotiating the workspace."
"I called out the demons one by one. I named them. I gave them precise blocking and ultimately, I controlled where they stood, breathed, and bourréed. I gave them an entrance, and a stage, and then I sent them away."
Vivian Wagner·
All ContentAutoethnographic Art & MultimediaAutoethnographic PoetryClimate Change Special Issue, 2022
··8 min read“We noticed signs of climate change and felt a sense of impending doom, even as we witnessed how human beings across the continent are trying to keep alive a sense of culture, art, and kindness.”
I strived to represent the experience of being a pediatric healthcare worker during COVID.
Humor acts as a defense mechanism, a pressure release valve, a teaching tool. As a heart surgeon, I have used laughter for all these reasons.
Through all of the things that separate us, there is one universal experience that transcends all barriers: love.
"This poem is rumination on how the personal experience of volunteering in never-before-seen flood relief efforts in the remote north reinforces the research that 'many of the changes observed in the climate are unprecedented in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years.'"
In my poetry, I highlight negative depictions of Catholic religion and discuss how they differ from my own experiences as a Catholic.
Poems As a Form of Powerful Activism and Barrier-breakers is a compilation of three poems which mean a lot for me.
"This autoethnographic poetry is born of my personal experience, witness, as well as currently chronicled and ancestral lore."
Ulla-Maija Matikainen·
All ContentAutoethnographic Literary FictionAutoethnographic PoetryAutoethnographic WritingVolume 2, Issue 1 (2022)
··12 min read"A woman alone doesn’t belong to any male power or protection sphere. She can be kidnapped into fears and dreams."