My Body Is Racked By Abu Nuwas

History is written by the victors, but poetry is written by the people. A person’s perception of the world is colored by countless things, and that perception influences the art they create. By studying poetry from different historical periods, it is possible to discover misconceptions and differences between cultures. The representation of sexuality and gender presented in “My body is racked” by Abu Nuwas challenges how the same topics are perceived in the twenty-first-century United States. This essay will directly compare the representation of masculinity, societal taboo, and love in “My body is racked” to the poem “Kudzu” by Saeed Jones. This representation of medieval Islamic culture, specifically regarding gender and sexuality, challenges

The taboo presented by Abu Nuwas is one of religious opposites. The piece details a forbidden romance between a Christian and a Muslim, something rare during the medieval period. This taboo is made obvious when Abu Nuwas writes “His god is the Son, so he said, and the Cross”. The Son refers to Jesus Christ and the Cross he died on. The speaker laments his forbidden love, but it is the complicated relationship between these religions that makes the relationship impossible, not the gender of the two men. In “Kudzu” this is not the case. Jones conveys a sense of self-loathing around the speaker’s sexual identity by saying “ I won’t be forgiven/ for what I’ve made/ of myself”. This reflects the complicated relationship with sexuality in America. By asking for forgiveness, the speaker admits to thinking of their sexuality as a sin. Being gay is still taboo in America, and 37% of Americans do not support gay marriage. Abu Nuwas’ nonchalant treatment of same sex love within his poem challenges the modern taboo surrounding gay love. The lack of taboo surrounding gender in Abu Nuwas’ poem challenges the taboo found in American

Looking at the type of love creators choose to focus on can reveal what a culture thinks is important. While both poems discuss love, the love Abu Nuwas describes is obsessive as opposed to the possessive love described in “Kudzu”. This difference is displayed when Abu Nuwas writes “I wish I were the eucharist which he is given or the/ chalice from/ Which he drinks the Wine!” The mention of wine and eucharist is a reference to their religious identities, specifically catholicism. They are both a large part of the ritual of Holy Communion and represent Jesus Christ’s body and blood. The speaker’s willingness to go against his religion and become symbols of Christianity to be closer to his love shows his devotion. There is also an inherent eroticism present that may be missed by modern readers. In medieval Islamic culture, sharing saliva was considered an important act of love. In this line, Abu Nuwas portrays the speaker as deeply obsessed with his love. The speaker's desire to be consumed by his love directly opposes the desire to consume portrayed by Jones. The love portrayed in “Kudzu” is possessive and sexual. Jones writes “All I’ve ever wanted/ was to kiss crevices, pry them open,/ and flourish within dew-slick/ hollows”. The use of the word “pry” suggests a level of force. The eroticism of the line also refers to saliva. However, the action described is possessive,