The Fig Tree It’s the biggest fig tree in California People get off the train to take pictures of it Children play around its shady umbrella Animals burrow inside its mammoth confines — Read on amethystmagazine.org/2019/05/13/the-fig-tree-a-poem-by-mark-tulin/
The Fig Tree – a poem by Mark Tulin – Amethyst Review
Crow On The Wire 
Nice
Thanks LA!!
Wow! A stunning tree and terrific poem taking in all the elements of the tree and what they ultimately stand for. Love it!
Thank you, Annika.
Congratulations on your publication in Amethyst Review. I particularly appreciate the message of “The Fig Tree” at this point in time because for the path month or so, every time I drive to work, I’m seeing great swaths of trees being cut down (or should I say decimated, destroyed?). It hurts me every time I see it.
Thank you, Liz. Yes, it is sad to see that. Here in Santa Barbara there’s more appreciation for trees. There’s a big Oak that grows in the middle of an iHop. For the most part, shops and homes are built around the tree.
I wonder if the fact that our trees aren’t as old as those in California might have something to do with it. New Hampshire and Vermont were all forest before the first settlers came and cleared most of the forests for farming. The farms petered out, people left, and the forests reclaimed the land. Now we’re clearing back to cutting down the forests again.
Sounds cyclic. Santa Barbara is one of those little cities that never seems to change, sometimes to a fault.
Loved the poem, Mark, and the way it slowly expands on the tree’s significance – like the spreading canopy. Wonderful photo too
Thank you. The tree’s an absolute marvel.