Photo Gallery I
Winter Tree Trunk
This is the trunk of a tree just outside the house where I rent an apartment in Brooklyn. The tree, I'm told, is hollow and once provided a haven where a cat gave birth to her kittens, but these days it serves as a nice jungle gym for the many squirrels that scamper, leap and hide.
I've noticed that this summer the vines of flowering bushes have draped themselves over this tree's branches. When you look up, you see tiny hovering pink flowers that seem to have levitated.
The trunks below are springtime trunks. I live on a street with some of the most beautiful trees I've ever seen. They are sturdy, old and majestic, and their trunks are like mystical tapestries, stories to be decoded, secrets of long life, narratives of life on Earth.
Best Friends
These are two neighborhood cats, and they are pretty much inseparable. I met the grey one on a cold December night in 2007 when he was just a kitten. He was alone and when I called to him, he made his way, furtively at first, to the porch where I was smoking. He kept his distance, but did something that cut me off at the knees. He sat up and cocked his head to the side in that way that kittens can do, and simply looked, as if he were trying to figure me out. (I named him “Kitten,” since at that time I couldn’t tell if he was male or female.) A couple of nights later, he and the orange one were together. I clicked my tongue at Kitten and he came near while The Orange One walked ahead and then waited. Now Kitten is no longer a kitten, but The Orange One is still his protector(?) and comrade. I always say a prayer for them as they cross from one side of the street to the other, because sometimes cars travel the block too fast, especially if the light is not red. In this photo, I imagine The Orange One fussing, saying, "Here I've been worried, looking all over for you, and here you are, just relaxing, unconcerned!" And Kitten says, "I'm sorry. I didn't hear you calling. Come beside me. Chill. It's too hot and humid to be so hot and bothered."
