{"id":3329,"date":"2012-04-04T17:32:25","date_gmt":"2012-04-04T21:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beginnersheart\/?p=3329"},"modified":"2012-04-04T17:32:25","modified_gmt":"2012-04-04T21:32:25","slug":"just-a-tree-like-any-other-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2012\/04\/just-a-tree-like-any-other-2.html","title":{"rendered":"just a tree like any other ~"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I’ve been looking at poetry through a different lens lately. I write the poem — which is always the best first step, when you look at poetry… \ud83d\ude42 — and then wondering how it reflects my practice. It’s a fascinating process.<\/p>\n

I’m one of those people who are more than a little tree crazy. My husband has warned every neighbour we’ve lived by in the past many years NOT to cut trees on our property line, or I may well go nuts. And it’s true — I do NOT prune lightly. Or badly. \ud83d\ude42 Some of our trees even have names. I mean in addition to genus and species.<\/p>\n

So it was no surprise to have a poem about trees materialise on paper (or screen — this is one of those that I think came from a journal scribble, but who remembers…?). What was a bit unsettling was to realise that I can do a timeline of my life, and recognise what date it was by the trees that were important to me.<\/p>\n

There’s the apricot my grandmother planted when I was born, the mimosas that used to hang over \u00a0Grandma & Aunt Bonnie’s curb, the frangipani in Dr. & Mrs. McIntyre’s yard… all the way to Ramses the fancy pine in our front yard, or the two holly trees in the back.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Buddhism says all things have Buddha nature. Certainly trees must. On my door at work \u00a0I have a picture of the tallest tree in the world<\/a>, a redwood in California. The tiny red specks are people, in the tree’s branches. I can’t fathom such a being — this enormous, centuries-old tree — not<\/em>\u00a0having Buddha nature. Or consciousness, for that matter. You’re talking \u00a0to someone who took Tolkien’s Ents seriously…<\/p>\n

So the Buddhism in today’s poem may seem \u00a0more latent than apparent. But believe me ~ it’s there.<\/p>\n

A Lexicon of Trees
\nThe apricot my grandmother planted the day<\/p>\n

that I was born. She made me fried pies<\/p>\n

in her mother\u2019s skillet. I have it still.<\/p>\n

The frangipani down the street from the villa<\/p>\n

plumeria<\/em> its real name. White and rose<\/p>\n

and yellow flowers. Climbing with the ants<\/p>\n

up its twisted trunk, I thought I was invisible.<\/p>\n

The mimosa on 8th Street. Into late fall she<\/p>\n

offered me feather flowers that desperate year<\/p>\n

Perhaps she saved me.<\/p>\n

And henna \u2013 white flowers in that barren<\/p>\n

desert where I made a home, pruning twigs<\/p>\n

that also did not fit. So much of love<\/p>\n

is like this.<\/p>\n

Japanese maple: scarlet against white dogwood<\/p>\n

break of bloom. Shallow-rooted, it holds<\/p>\n

earth together.<\/p>\n

Crape myrtle, cherry red and toddler pink<\/p>\n

lace-edged corsage on the front<\/p>\n

of a house where love<\/p>\n

solved its first puzzles.<\/p>\n

It is the way trees mark the verges<\/p>\n

of this journey, their own dendritic<\/p>\n

timeline<\/p>\n

blossomspill \u200b \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0leaffall \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u200bbarebranch.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been looking at poetry through a different lens lately. I write the poem — which is always the best first step, when you look at poetry… \ud83d\ude42 — and then wondering how it reflects my practice. It’s a fascinating process. I’m one of those people who are more than a little tree crazy. My…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\njust a tree like any other ~ - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I've been looking at poetry through a different lens lately. 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