My interest in
trees as an archetype goes back at least to my first book,
The Trees of Unknowing (Vehicule Press, 1978), and probably before. The obvious allusion in the title of my book is to
The Cloud of Unknowing that I first read in the early-1970s. While in Mexico in 1984 I found a copy of
The Cloud of Unknowing and read it again with great interest. Just a few months ago I returned to this book, and read it with even greater interest than the other two times. It is a part of the
via negativa , with (curiously) some suggestions of Krishnamurti's philosophy.
Trees. Roots; earth. Branches; sky. Union. The mundane unites with the divine, and
mundane, coming from
mundo, world, earth, is the appropriate word. And then the discussion of the divine. What seems lacking in contemporary poetry is a discussion of the divine, of God, and our relationship with the Divine. It seems to be totally absent from the discussion of poetry by poets. No wonder the soul of the poet is never discussed, but without a poet's soul how can we have poetry?
These photographs (and many others that I have taken) of this apple tree in our backyard remind me of the many hours of pleasure I have had sitting looking out at this tree. In the evenings I can see neighbours' lights through the trees. Seeing these things is a pleasurable activity, it is a feeling of being in the country in the city, a feeling of calm and, oddly enough, of transcending time.
