Ghost Forest

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Walking home, jilted, one late summer’s night it is a delight to stumble upon these tree stumps from Brazil and further a field.  The roots carve into each other and infinitely bend into twisted curves providing a mesmering road to nowhere for the eyes to follow.   The chap I thought was more than a friend is walking away, no longer an acquaintance and I start the task of finding something else to love.

I have been dumped in the grounds of the Natural History museum where the cycles of life itself feels like old relationships.  The beige hue of the tree bark holds a spectrum of colour tones in the wood from hundreds of years of growing in a tropical forest.  The exotic location is given a visual stimulus when the tree stumps are viewed in bright white sunlight.  Equally the unforgiving rain on this selection of nature’s masterpieces imprints a muddy tone to the wood giving the outdoor exhibition a spooky echo of English woodland.

The vast girth of these trees is such that even the most committed hippy would struggle to hug.  There is a feeling you can see the wood for the trees because the enormity of each stump is breathtaking making it easy to scale up the display to get a bigger picture of a living forest.  By contrast the fine detail of the root structure is mind blowing as it proves such minute root tips can support such a gargantuan beast.

The unearthed roots, pulled like my emotions out of the ground by nature’s force, are parked on plinths next to the evergreen Wellington Pine that sturdily carries traditional coloured lights, just like Christmas.  This emphasises the dead nature of these exhibits offering a reminder that extinction is a permanent status.  Inside the museum, the story is told of the Dodo for example and other less fortunate species who, like me, one night ran out of love.  The bewitching quality of this collection displayed on blocks on the green outside the museum spells out the danger of working against nature.  No one can walk by without walking through the collection of tree stumps and touching one.  This is at least true during the late nights I stop by and ironically it feels like a living museum.

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Enjoy some wonderful Valentine’s Day stories here

 

Romantic garden photos in a beautiful ebook are here to enjoy

55 thoughts on “Ghost Forest”

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    • Gosh. That’s just the nicest thing to say 🙂 I’m so happy! The forest was incredibly inspiring and I think the chap I was with raised my horizons so it was easy to write! He was quite beautiful to look at. Here’s to a happy Friday all round! 🙂

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    • The trees were special and just staring at their bare roots gave so many ideas for words. Your words mean so much and I am deeply appreciative of your comment. I am loving visiting your blog and learning so much from it. Thanks for stopping by 😉

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    • I struggled with that! But a kind blogger told me (and it seems to work) that you cut and paste them easy enough from the original. Hope this works for you!

      Look forward to enjoying my visit to your blog.

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  16. This is a lovely piece of work.

    I really enjoyed the way you mirrored the experience of loving and being in love, to the descriptions of the trees and the museum exhibits. For me, the piece seemed to remind the reader that ‘love’ is an ever-evolving thing; and your analogy really highlighted the risk and the wonder of the experience of loving. Very well done indeed.

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    • Thanks for this insight and for reading the piece. I appreciate so much the encouragement and sharing your view. It was and is an incredible set of trees and full of great analogy. I feel lucky this one worked! I’m glad you enjoyed.

      Just had a great visit to your website. I will be returning soon to enjoy more of your engaging blogs. Great site!

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  28. this post breathes out of the page like a graveyard wind, heavy with the loss of the trees even as it celebrates their remnants..

    It sounds magical–a tree Stonehenge.

    I love trees…I talk to the few potted ones i care for…but so far: the silent Tree-tment…;)

    final thought: in Carlos Castaneda’s book, The Power of Silence, he said the way to truly know a tree, is too study the spaces between its branches and leaves…in effect–where the tree is NOT.

    Thanks for the walk through the Woods…:)

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    • I love this concept of looking for negative space you mention here. Hadn’t thought of that in the context of trees. Your insight inspires. Thank you.

      Nothing like a walk in the woods! Still thinking about the magic of reading your interpretation of Alice’s Wonderland. Great poem! Loved it.

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