p 94 -- Tree ,Good Earth Plantation
MSC -- This tree has withstood lightening, the road being moved, tornados, I even recently saw a gang of children banging toy trucks and crashing bicycles against its trunk. It just seems to have a spiritual aura that is indestructible. It is a stoic monument to the changes that have occurred around it . Perhaps it represents the very nature of change itself..
SY--This great photograph chills me every time I look at it. I'm so glad it graces the cover of my novel. The patch of ground on which the tree stands was probably once cleared the way Say Payne clears the land in Visible Spirits: by deadening the roots of the trees and then cutting them down and setting the wood on fire. Somehow, this tree survived. It reminds me of all that is both tragic and beautiful about the place that Maude and I call home. It's had the hell knocked out of it, and by rights it ought to be gone. But it's alive. Only a fool would bet on outlasting it.
