Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Eucalyptus and I, from Lavender Ink Press.

https://www.lavenderink.org/site/shop/i-and-eucalyptus/?v=76cb0a18730b

 


I and Eucalyptus is series of meditative poems, or poetic meditations, on the relationship between the writer and a tree, by way of Martin Buber’s I and Thou, including 21 full color photographs of the tree. Schultz’s obsession with a solitary eucalyptus in a neighborhood park opens up space for discussions of self and other (as well as dog), creation and decreation, accident and abstraction in art, politics and spirituality, and much else. Tree and writer exchange vows, but there’s no insurance to cover such a union, so writer and dog return home, “develop” photos, and muse about these encounters between human and tree beings. The eucalyptus, so often considered worthless and invasive, becomes a worthwhile guide to thought. Answers, of course, are all more questions, for the book is more quest than end-point. Each section is accompanied by a photograph of the tree’s drips and drabs; greens, reds and yellows; its peeling bark and black sap.

No comments: