When I lived in Korea, I didn’t pay much attention to plants.
Flowers were just landscaping that changed with the seasons, and big trees were something like Christmas decorations.
After moving to New Mexico, the dry winds that carried sand taught me how extraordinary green life really is.
In 2020, I visited an old house near the Rio Grande.
That August, the garden was full of local plants, and in a corner of still water, lotus buds were growing.
Lotus buds, in the desert.
I never imagined I would see them here.
Since that day, I have turned my attention to flowers.
Because New Mexico is so harsh for plants, every flower feels different. In the desert, when a flower opens, its beauty feels like more than beauty alone.
It carries the quiet strength of having broken through countless limits.
*
In summer 2025, I read an article saying the Rio Grande had dried up.
I hope life will soon return to that river.