Each time that I look at this piece, I catch something that I didn’t see before. There are so many layers to take in and conceptualize, which I think is very fitting for the theme of the piece – the globalization of news and social media. As I continued to discover new aspects within Kudzu, I became inspired to write a poem as a kind of “meditation” on the work. The aspect of the piece that I find to be the most compelling is that everything seems to be connected in some way. I decided to incorporate this idea of connection into my poem, as it relates to the way that social media is spreading and forming connections throughout the world.  

 

A Meditation on Jiha Moon’s Kudzu

 

From anticipating hands bursts

the plumage of a new species of bird –

the tips of its feathers wetted with

the beginnings of a metamorphosis.

 

In one fluid motion

its wings draw back,  

sending an aura of innovation –  

to bathe the world between its wings.

 

And the world awakens 

as leaves become messengers,

with blueprints embedded

into young skin;

as clouds acquire the means

to program new pathways,

to engage with the mountains;

as sky at last discovers a route

to make contact with the ocean.

 

As if urged by a memo,

the trees create new roots –

with searching fingers,

and pioneering limbs that wrap

across near and distant spaces,

asserting an omnipresence;

lending worldly hands, and –

– connecting.

 

Carmen Dodl