Introduction

Patricia Goedicke's 2003 commencement address to The University of Montana is presented as a launching point for her thoughts and work as a poet. In it, Goedicke states that the imagination arises out of the "intextricable fusion" of body and mind. It is through the imagination, Goedicke argues, that we can begin to find common understandings in spite of the fact that we are separate individuals with our own unique perspective of the world around us. The negotiation of duality that Goedicke displays in her speech is indicative of much of her work and understanding of poetry.