{"id":108,"date":"2026-04-07T21:25:58","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:25:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/?page_id=108"},"modified":"2026-04-09T17:51:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T17:51:27","slug":"kudzu","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/poetry\/kudzu\/","title":{"rendered":"Kudzu"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;font-size: 14pt;color: #003366\">Jack Scholtes<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">Ever growing is the plant that wraps<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">That chokes, destroys, within its lapse<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">Belittles and kills, settles and still,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">Growing upon skin like a plant<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">Green and tough, destruction reigns<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">Striking and stinking the land it takes<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">Thin as grass, tough as steel,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">Relentless without any ounce of feel<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">Greedy and hungry, with no belly or mouth<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">Take and take and take, it cannot go without<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">Through space and time, its presence severe<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">The end is imminent, the end is so clear<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">Vines grow in thick, emerge from around<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">What darkness it brings, light it steals<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">Under rocks, houses, and mountains<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">Suddenly nothing, all at once,<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">Brings no sound.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jack Scholtes Ever growing is the plant that wraps That chokes, destroys, within its lapse Belittles and kills, settles and still, Growing upon skin like a plant &nbsp; Green and tough, destruction reigns Striking and stinking the land it takes Thin as grass, tough as steel, Relentless without any ounce of feel &nbsp; Greedy and&hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"toivo-read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/poetry\/kudzu\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Kudzu<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"parent":21,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-108","page","type-page","status-publish","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/108\/revisions\/109"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}