Photographs and drawings of the tree that lives near my back door.
4.5″ x 6″, soft cover, perfect bound, 57 pages.
Self-published in August 2025.
You can also pick up a copy at:
- Quimby’s Bookstore, Chicago, IL
- Fire Arts, South Bend, IN
Introduction
This is a book about the tree that lives near my back door. She is the largest tree on our block, which is mostly parking lot and buildings. Her beauty frames the sky and brings me joy everyday just by looking up.
The tree is a multi-sensory experience. I love the sound of the breeze as it blows through her leaves; the welcoming feeling of coolness when I relax in her shade in the heat of summer. The fluttering of her leaves and whirligig seeds as they drift and spin to the ground in the fall and spring.
I sit on my patio and I wonder about her. Does she feel all alone, surrounded by grey concrete? Or does she feel loved?
A cicada starts to sing. I think about what it might feel like to experience the tree through the eyes and ears and feet of the animals and insects that live in her.
I wonder how often the humans who walk past her pause to look up, take in her beauty and feel a moment of happiness.
She connects me to the earth and sky.
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Axis Mundi is defined as a world axis : line or stem through the earth’s center connecting its surface to the underworld and the heavens and around which the universe revolves.
