The Poem Kudzu By Carley Rees Bogarad

In the poem, Kudzu, by Carley Rees Bogarad, the author was expressing what it feels like to dream of and actually view a lover being intimate with someone else. This dramatic narrative explains the difference between the Kudzu plant in Arizona and Japan, as well as the allusion of plant in the narrator’s own life. The comparison being that in Arizona, they twine around poles and trees, completely taking over. In Japan, they use the plant to prevent destruction of the earth. These both reflect on how the plant is taking over the narrator life. As in Arizona, the Kudzu completely drowns and engulfs anything in it’s way as the narrator is overwhelmed complementary to the landscape in the South. Similarly to the Kudzu in Japan, there is safety
behind the plant as the fact that the betrayal is happening in a dream, which prevents the complete destruction to the narrator, but one factor doesn’t mean that destruction will not occur. The narrator recognizes that while the plants in these other places may seem to have a purpose, the only desire of the suggested Kudzu is to consume the relationship. In this case, the Kudzu is the built relationship. Such as Kudzu plants grow abundantly, relationships also bloom and sprout. With the blossom and growth of a romantic relationship, the deeper the connection and the more vulnerable the heart becomes. In this case, the destruction of the heart is because the heart itself was made too vulnerable. The narrator, even though the pain is simply experienced in a dream, feels the heartbreak and hollowness of the affair.