Daily Excerpt: Rainstorm of Tomorrow (Dong) - Is the world of nature knowable?
The following excerpt comes from Rainstorm of Tomorrow by Renyuan Dong. Core Question: Is the world of nature knowable? The tree represents an existence of obscurity, mystery, metaphor, and silence. While its canopy can stretch up to several thousand square meters, its roots can cover a n area of up to ten million. Such shocking, asymmetrical data prompted a nascent passion within me to carefully reimagine tree roots. Where to find a tree floating tranquilly in a lake, with its wanton crown stretching above shimmering, fluid moonlight; and beneath the water’s surface, as neither a reflection nor an attachment, grows another “tree,” its composition of interweaving, soil-delving roots discarded for an indiscriminate splay into the water? What a spectacular dual-tree picture it would cast upon the lake! Yet, this image is by no means symmetric, since the submerged tree is much more flourishing than its peer above the water – the part we normally see and recognize as a “tree.” Su