Friday, January 06, 2006

An Arboreal Mystery

Recently, when I was in residency at VCCA, I think, I saw several gingko trees in various stages of undress. I found it curious that they wouldn't have all gotten naked at the same time, in a show of solidarity against all those brash maples and oaks. One, the oldest and tallest, seemed to disrobe all in one day and someone--it is an artists' colony after all--made assembled an installation of golden piles in a neat circle around the trunk. But today, while reading Grace Paley's Begin Again, her collected poems, I came across this:

An Arboreal Mystery

On Jane Street in October
I saw three gingko trees
the first is naked to the bony branch
the second is a dance of little golden fans
the third is green as green September

--Grace Paley

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