Recent posts
Ginkgo Biloba
By Richard Hackler
Feb 11, 2026
Ten Takes On the Palm
“Ten Takes On the Palm” first appeared in Rooted: the Best New Arboreal Nonfiction 1. The sandy soil, the boggy ponds: whenever I feel that inexplicable sense of geographic safety (say, in parts of Cape Cod, coastal North Carolina, or Florida), I understand soon enough that I’m looking at a replica of my childhood backyard—or the woods and marshes nearby. And yet I once wanted to be elsewhere. Or at least I wanted my plants and trees to be elsewhere. I wanted them to grow in daring shapes, tips pointy as shovels. I wanted them to be scary, a little closer to life as I knew it, which felt to me
Jan 7, 2026
Quakies: Populus temuloides
The quaking aspen are a medium, not the message. Don’t mistake an aspen’s tremble for the wind or a showy yellow leaf for autumn. Wind shivers through them, just as a wave is not the water, but force shoving the lake to lap the shore. On the flesh of the medium, shepherds have written clues for the flock, directions, and preferences for willing women. These notes won’t last longer than papyrus, sandstone, or your url. They will outlive bathroom graffiti, written in Sharpie, along the stall walls at the High Noon Saloon. The aspen are also a message, not the medium. Like a scab of the mountains
Dec 10, 2025