A LUMINOUS HISTORY OF THE PALM

Fiction. Sublunary Editions, 2020. Paperback, 70 pages. 7"x4.5"x0.188"

From the press: A brief history of civilization threaded through the eaves and fronds of the humble palm.

Under the paving stones, the palm. This little book can be read as a series of small portraits through time, all of which include a palm tree. Or it can be read as a revolutionary tract. The palm is a symbol traced through history, a hidden portal to intimate moments that bring geographies and situations to life. A vital presence, it coaxes out vitality. It's everywhere once you start to look, a secret joyful emblem. A Luminous History of the Palm would have been very easy to have spent a lifetime writing. Why the palm? Why not? Are abstract categories any better? Run your fingers over the leaves, help the plant to take root, sprinkle the water of your attention on the first story so it grows. Repeat the exercise a couple of dozen times. If you like, go on to create your own history on the basis of other trees, other flowers, other animals. Infinite stories proliferate, yet sprout from the same soil.

"In the tradition of Walter Benjamin's profane illuminations, Sequeira shows us that history is a gleaming constellation of stories awaiting a storyteller. An intricately crafted jewel of a book that possesses the strange radiancy of dreams." —Carlos Fonseca