The 125 year old silver maple in our backyard just got a trim. Long overhanging branches hovering over our house and over the neighbors’ yards were cut off relieving some of the weight on the crotch of the tree. This old tree is massive, the circumference of its trunk needing more than two pairs of arms to encircle it. Its roots go deep, beneath our house. It grows solidly on the earth, while reaching far into the heavens.
JB rescued some of the larger branches to save for sculptures. The tree Buddha he carved today is pictured in the images above. He will be copying Kobayashi Issa’s (1763-1828) poem on the flat end where the branch has been cut and split on the Buddha’s right:
XXXXXXThis world of dew
XXXXXXis only a world of dew –
XXXXXXand yet
Nexus 
I
AND
THIS
TREE
THANK
YOU
Wood cutters in the Old Maple
Limbs on the ground
All is quiet
In this old mans house
Carved wood
Buddha
Emerging
JBB
1/16/2015