Mighty Mighty

This tree is absurd. It is a caricature of strength and solidity; it may as well have been designed by a toddler. To my eye, it makes no engineering sense whatsoever: the limbs do not taper, there seems to be tremendous torque at the bottom but none elsewhere. It looks more like a giant gearing mechanism than an organically growing plant.

As preposterous and blatantly incredible as it is, this kapok tree is marvelous to look upon. It is as if the idea of a tree were directly instantiated, without any accommodation made for environmental context or indeed the rules of physics.

Here it is: a tree. There’s no use arguing about it.