The Kudzu Chronicles - Oxford, Mississippi [excerpt] Poem by Beth Ann Fennelly

Kudzu sallies into the gully
like a man pulling up a chair
where a woman was happily dining alone.
Kudzu sees a field of cotton,
wants to be its better half.
Pities the red clay, leaps across
the color wheel to tourniquet.
Sees every glass half full,
pours itself in. Then over the brim.
Scribbles in every margin
with its green highlighter. Is begging
to be measured. Is pleased
to make acquaintance with
your garden, which it is pleased to name
Place Where I Am Not.
Yet. Breeds its own welcome mat.

2.
Why fret
if all it wants
is to lay one heart—
shaped palm
on your sleeping back?

Why fright
when the ice
machine dumps its
armload of diamonds?