heat stricken

this is what happens when you spend a day in that very old-fashioned activity, burning brush, which is rightly banned in most metro areas but which, every once in a while (like after you have had to cut down six standing dead oaks in your side yard), is so remarkably satisfying. today i unwittingly built my fire under a catalpa tree, and as i dragged twigs and slash through the woods over the course of the afternoon, these leaves were smoked slowly in the heat above the fire, and curled into themselves without quite drying, so that they ended up looking like soft piles of green velvet. it is an effect that my camera captured in the most approximate way, so approximately, in fact, that I wish i could just place one of these in your hand, next to a window facing away from the sun, so that you could hold it in front of you, and turn it this way and that, and truly get the full effect. in other words, today i spent time burning brush, but also spent time exploring some of the limitations of photography and a few of the advantages of sculpture.

singed catalpa leaves