Oxford Street: Poetry in the Psychology of Childhood, Volume 1

By David C. Bellusci

Greek mythology, schools of psychology, and a child growing up on Oxford Street create the structure for this collection of poems where childhood emotions are explored. The poetic intersection of myth, reality, and analysis offer the hermeneutic framework to unravel "powerlessness" and "fear" of a child. The collection opens to a six-year-old boy's world on "Oxford Street" where the reader enters the boy's home, discovers the rooms, and unlocks the symbols. The mythical figure of Apollo that runs parallel to Oxford Street connects to--and disconnects from--the Greek pantheon of gods in the restructured family relation of gods. Apollo experiences freedom in the open fields of Thessaly but restraint triggered by thoughts of Hestia and Zeus. Interpreting Oxford Street in terms of the relation between the powerlessness and fear of a child, Freud, Jung, Maslow, Adler, Erikson, Sullivan are included in the poetry as avenues of revisiting childhood.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: Mar 9, 2023
• ISBN: 9781666763485

David C. Bellusci

Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, David C. Bellusci has written eight books, including four books of poetry. He holds a BA in English literature, MA in linguistics, MFA in creative writing, PhD in philosophy, and PsyD in clinical pastoral psychotherapy. Bellusci’s poems have been published in Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, the UK, and the USA. He is a member of the Writers’ Union of Canada and lives in Vancouver where he teaches philosophy and theology.

Book preview

Statue of a Mother Breastfeeding

Peasant woman,

head scarf, vibrant clothes,

she sits in a chair

holds her baby, focused

on his lips sucking

her breast.

Intimate smile.

Baby’s eyes set on his mother.

Her hands on her breast ensures her boy

is satisfied with her milk.

Gratified. Peace.

Woman captures maternity,

in her rosy cheeks, full breasts,

healthy hips.

Is it the woman or child

who delights in this ceramic

of natural attachment?

Baby breastfed.

Breastfeeding Mother.

The statue remained on my mother’s

dresser.

Oxford Street

Two-story stucco or Craftsman homes,

decorated front gables. Banisters

hide porches, brown or turquoise

or gray. Staircases roll down the