It's all Yellow:

the Gingko + Unboxing Books + A Poem

In Porto, Portugal, I discovered that December brings the yellowest of leaves to the Gingko trees lining the hilly streets. One of many fascinating facts about the Gingko biloba is that a tree will shed its canopy of yellow leaves all at once in a magical leaf drop. The other is that they are living fossils, predating the dinosaurs. The golden trees are so resilient that six survived the Hiroshima atomic bombs, sprouting leaves in the spring where they became symbols of hope. Their immune systems, in the cambium layer, suggest they theoretically can live forever, absent external forces.

Also immortal, the physarum polycephalum (or yellow slime mold, sometimes called “the Blob”) at the heart of my book is ever branching, a variety of plant intelligence that, for me, also becomes symbolic of hope though I would venture to call it faith or ecstatic belief. Though our journeys can be dark, the promise of yellow is the promise of light.

The color yellow does that. Once you’re attentive, you’ll find it everywhere. Here’s a poem by Anne Sexton that my friend & poet Jade Rivers brought to my attention:

As winter cedes, those “spoonfuls of heat” and also daffodils bring us further encouragement to keep going. So here I am unboxing YELLOW:

Help me spread the hope & joy!

Preorder Yellow at Red Hen Press: redhen.org

or go directly to Bookshop.org

I hope :) you’ll share with others also looking for a book that ultimately celebrates lives looking for the yellowest.

~~thank you, Kindred Spirits!