“Rude, unbending, lusty . . .”

The title of this post is from Walt Whitman’s description of the monumental live oak trees of the South in his poem “I Saw in Louisiana A Live-Oak Growing.” Below, the tree’s impossibly long and heavy branches reach upward, only to bifurcate and stretch even higher.

I took all the photographs in this post in idyllic Audubon Park, across from Tulane and Loyola universities. The jogging and cycling track around the perimeter of the park is lined with live oaks. Inside the perimeter is a golf course.

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Below, a brick labyrinth in Audubon Park, intended to symbolize healing following the devastation unleashed on New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina in late summer, 2005.

All photos by Camille Martin