Solitary.

I returned to the burnt forest yesterday. There is something about its raw silent  trauma that speaks to me. For many years I've worked with a symbolic connection between trees and human beings: they speak to various parts of our experience, sometimes standing tall and vibrant, at other times twisted and crippled. California live oaks’ craggy branch structure speaks to me of the crookedness and character that human beings gain over our lifetime. (I’m certainly not the sprightly thing I once was!)

And this young, traumatized tree casts its uneven shadow on the path … its  long solitary line and detachment from other trees in the midst of the forest also speaks to me of widowhood.