![]() ![]() ![]() Jones has the unique ability of capturing so much meaning in so few words. One line I found myself returning to again and again reads, “Just as some cultures have a hundred words for ‘snow,’ there should be a hundred words in our language for all the ways a black boy can lie awake at night.” ![]() Instead, I took the time to allow myself to sit with the carefully crafted phrases and truly appreciate them. In fact, it is clear and accessible to people who may not be accustomed to reading poetry. ![]() This is not because Jones’ writing is difficult to understand. Multiple times while reading, I found myself pausing to read paragraphs again to allow their meaning to wash over me. His evocative and poetic writing, which has been recognized with a Pushcart Prize and the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry, shines through in this new form. Jones’ Craftĭespite the memoir’s prose form, Jones’ background in poetry is evident. Through a series of vignettes, Jones guides the reader from summers at his conservative grandmother’s house to college in Kentucky to teaching and writing in New York. Jones, raised in Lewisville, Texas, shares his story of growing up as a queer Black man raised by a single mother. In celebration of Pride Month and as a part of my yearly goal to diversify the media I consume, I recently read Saeed Jones’ 2019 memoir, “ How We Fight for Our Lives.” Not knowing much about the book beforehand, I was pleasantly surprised by the raw, beautifully crafted story and found myself surprised at its lack of recognition outside of the literary world. ![]()
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