PUS by Adrienne Christian

PUS Analysis

"Pus," is an exploration of emotional healing. It explores how traumatic issues from childhood can build up and sabotage relationships, romantic and otherwise. The poem hinges on the distinction between then and now, showing the evolution of the speaker, who moves from traumatic responses to healed ones.

Structurally, I designed the poem to end on emotional impact, with the final stanza being the shortest but the most poignant. In terms of tone, I wanted to portray a sense of exhausted resolve in the speaker-- the work is hard, but the speaker leans into it. In terms of theme, my aim was to show the necessity of human beings needing to do their shadow work. Heartbreaks will still happen, but the aftermath can only be different once underlying issues have been addressed.

"Pus" is from a collection I'm working on called Brink, which is about a woman on the brink of healing after being ghosted by her fiancée.