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
