Bark, once shed with grace

Every year I anticipate the bark shedding from my 5 crepe myrtle trees. It’s rich in texture and color and I enjoy looking at it. 

When I picked up the bark, however, I felt sad about the current state in California, where again, the forests have burned, out of control, 3.5 million acres, the worst in the state’s history. 

Even though many trees can regrow, I felt empathy for their forced plight. I photographed the bark pieces and wrote a haiku verse with the 5-7-5 syllables: 

“Bark, once shed with grace

Now destroyed by fire’s blaze.

Rise again, beauties!”

Phawnda Moore Rocklin, CA