Poetics, Prose, Place, and Persona (with Saeed Jones)

About this episode

Saeed Jones discusses his poetic roots, identity, and the influence of the South on his work.

Saeed Jones traces his poetic roots through his sense of place and placemaking, identity, education, and his experiences writing in multiple genres. Considering how freeing the poetic form can be, Jones talks about the fictional element and the many personas embedded in his poems. Because we grew up in the south, he also reflects on the prominence of the south in his work and how “the south” is its own character (a persona!) and his attempt to correct the Southern canon.

People in this episode

Host: Anna Nguyen

Guest: Saeed Jones

Topics covered

• poetry
• identity
• place
• southern literature
• persona
• writing

Keywords

• poetic form
• placemaking
• multiple genres
• Southern canon
• fictional element

Mentioned in this episode

Places: the south

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