Haibun: Palo Verde

Under the Superstition Mountain, etched with memories from before humans existed, sat the Palo Verde tree. Palo verde, or green stick in English, is what the Spanish called this desert tree.

Squatty, the tree sits low with green bark, but it sits exactly as it is supposed to sit. This palo verde is beautiful. It is beautiful because it is exactly what it is. Only when I apply the models of beauty I grew up with — green leaved maples, oaks, cherry trees, and the rest — do I miss the beauty right in front of me. I miss the palo verde in all its beauty.

Only when I apply the models I grew up with do I miss what is right in front of me.

palo verde’s green

bark and branches lean like beans,

makes a winter’s scene