A Theory of Roots

Amid the tangle of growth that takes place in a semi-tropical parcel of land left to its own, a yellow butterfly could remind one of a yellow flower, each there with a similar purpose: to be. Stumbling on the roots of a strangler fig that runs across the path you are walking; how can you not think of your own roots, born in a past prior to your birth and continuing into whatever impact you leave on the earth after your passing? The strangler fig will eventually choke the tree around which it grows. The fig itself ultimately becomes a micro-ecological system, housing birds, reptiles, mosses-thus, the process we know so well: death to life and back again. Through a poetical homage to Boyd Hill, one of Florida's beautiful nature preserves, Vincent Spina explores the circle of life and death, the influence of our origins, and significance of what we leave behind.