The twelve year old Mexican Fan Palm I photographed last year ( see http://www.pbase.com/image/65752938 ) once again offers us food for thought. This time, I photograph some of its fronds that seem to glow and burn on a hot summer afternoon in Phoenix. The slow decline of a palm frond begins at its needle-like tips, and gradually works its way along the frond until all that is now green turns brown and perishes. There is rhythmic beauty to these singed ends, outlined in delicate hairs. The image is a metaphor for the inevitable – all life is finite. The negative space is just as important to this image as the palm itself. Between each green frond is a phantom blue frond, working as visual counterpoint and tension.