Happy Friday, and better yet, Happy POETRY Friday! Want to know more about Poetry Friday? Check out: What in the World is Poetry Friday.
We are lucky to have the talented photographer, author, and poet Marcie Flinchum Atkins hosting this week. Please visit her blog Marcie Flinchum Atkins for the latest on her book When Twilight Comes: The Animals and Plants That Bring Dawn and Dusk to Life.
Speaking of all things crepuscular, during a recent camping trip through the southeastern US, we stayed at a campground loaded with sprawling banyan trees. Each one brimmed with activity at twilight (and probably all day for that matter!). Being from the Northeast, I’ve never had the opportunity to explore these enthralling behemoths of the plant world.
The banyan, also sometimes referred to as a strangler fig, starts life by wrapping vines around another tree, eventually killing it. The banyan reaches out spaghetti-like whiskers and builds columns, layer after layer, expanding its limbs and trunk. When an arm grows too heavy, the Banyan builds its own crutch. When a limb dies, it feeds the insects.
The banyan specializes in architecture, especially columns and arches, but sometimes an elephant (can you spot one below?).
What lived within this banyan fascinated me as much as the tree itself. Home to things earthly and human-made, this tree housed peepers and creepers, hosted morning lizard meetups, collected trash, and coddled young palm trees (at least for the moment).
A symbol of both life and death, the banyan holds significance in many religions. Below is my reflection about the banyan's methods in the context of today's politics. Please excuse the focus on the darker aspects of this miracle of nature!
Regime
Strangling a sapling,
Banyan rises from death.
Desperate for more,
always more,
he reaches, grabs, chokes,
roots, builds, layers.
He busies himself
with expansion plans,
indifferent to the little ones
clinging to his limbs:
peepers,
creepers,
chameleons,
a sapling.
© Tracey Kiff-Judson 2026
And thanks for a fascinating post — I learned a lot about the banyan tree.