{"id":729,"date":"2022-09-15T15:06:59","date_gmt":"2022-09-15T19:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/?p=729"},"modified":"2022-09-15T15:44:03","modified_gmt":"2022-09-15T19:44:03","slug":"kudzu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/2022\/09\/15\/kudzu\/","title":{"rendered":"“Do it for the vine”"},"content":{"rendered":"

I think the poem \u201cKudzu,\u201d by Saeed Jones, is about how he feels as if he does not belong within his society. Kudzu is an extremely fast-growing invasive plant species that is native to Eastern Asia. Kudzu was introduced to the United States in the late 19<\/span>th<\/span> century, and the plant completely took over the South of the United States. The poem is shaped on the page to match the nature of vines, in a wavy line down the page. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jones, who was born in Tennessee and grew up in a rural Texas town, alludes to Kudzu because he also feels as if he does not belong due to his sexuality. Jones conveys the theme of estrangement within the poem with the lines, \u201cPines turn their backs \/ on me. They know \/ what I can do \/ with the wrap of my legs\u201d (30). The pines in this passage are symbolic of the people in Jones\u2019 life, and the metaphor suggests that the people in Jones\u2019 life are turning their backs on him due to his sexuality. Jones also makes indirect references to his estrangement in the poem, including, \u201cI won\u2019t be forgiven \/ for what I’ve made \/ of myself\u201d (30). With this passage, I think Jones references his sexuality as what he has made for himself and will not be forgiven by those around him. The passage is also written in such a way that he blames himself for his sexual deviance rather than the people around him, showing that Jones also battles with his own internalized homophobia. He suggests, by using the word \u201cmade,\u201d that his sexuality was an active choice that he made, rather than it being completely natural.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think the poem \u201cKudzu,\u201d by Saeed Jones, is about how he feels as if he does not belong within his society. Kudzu is an extremely fast-growing invasive plant species that is native to Eastern Asia. Kudzu was introduced to the United States in the late 19th century, and the plant completely took over the … Continue reading “Do it for the vine”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4389,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[344620],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2022"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4389"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}