Around the block from where I live is a tree. This is no ordinary tree, it’s the Poet Tree (Poetreee?).
For as long as I can remember, I have gravitated towards trees – there’s a sentence I didn’t think I’d be saying/writing. Steadfast, ever-present, mostly unshakeable, and all around epic. Also they can’t be rude to you, and that’s got to count for something? Point being, I find them comforting.
And so I quite enjoy where I live for it’s replete with trees old and new, lining streets, and generally, you know, pumping the air around with that gas we can’t quite get enough off – Oxygen. So a fair few people, dogs, birds, and even fox seem to find our parts rather cozy. These are your local residents.
And just when these aforementioned residents thought it couldn’t get any better, some anonymous soul from round these parts did this…
After this nifty piece of carpentry appeared on the tree, sometime last year, not only could you enjoy the usual benefits of being around a tree, you could also now ponder some philosophy or laugh at a limerick while on your way to the local bus. How clever is that?
And so as we all got used to this new-old technology (public notice board meets pen and pencil, no sharing possible on the WWW) there was surprise and wonder to be had when you least expected it. The curator behind this, if I may call the person that, didn’t indicate what it might take to get ‘published’, and so different writings appeared. Locals dabbling in poetry but also some put forward by the wizard behind the idea. Sometime in the winter, I too put up a poem, written in Hindi; for the untrained eye to deal with as they figure best.
But the point isn’t that I put something up but rather how a simple intervention, made locals stop and ponder, and invited them to interact with the west facing side of this tree? There is no knowing what kind of foot traffic this tree sees or how many ‘likes’ or ‘followers’ it has, but those that come across writings on here take away a feeling with them. And perhaps that’s the magic of the Poet Tree. The mostly analog interconnectedness it forces upon those whose eyes land on it.
And today as I stepped out after 9 pm, still some light in the summer sky, a mild evening greeted me. I was in the mood for a gentle stroll, meandering in the familiar streets of around here, preparing my body for a typical night’s rest ahead. As I stopped at the tree, as is now customary on most walks, I found a poem that wasn’t up the last time I was here. And it left me with a feeling that eventually translated into a desire to share something forward via my blog…
(You may have to zoom in but have a read at the poem below. Thank you @AmyAllen Poet whoever you are, it’s brilliant this)
So my friends, whoever you are and however you have been feeling up to this point, as the poem goes on to say, “Let. It. All. Go………Trust, that you glow without trying.” Yikes, sometimes, it feels good to be alive.
Armaan 