The Distance Between Us

Exercise 5.1

Trees

BY JOYCE KILMER

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

As I felt I was struggling with finding anything directly that I felt connected to and that would offer that reflectivity I needed for this exercise, I drew on something that I had participated in for a recent SERG meeting. It was decided that we would write and illustrate a Haiku.  It was a fun exercise and I enjoyed seeing how others made the connections between the different types of media.  I chose therefore, this poem Trees to work with for this exercise.

The EYV course book quotes Alexia Clorinda in Project 1 ‘I don’t pretend that I can describe the ‘other’. The camera for me is more a meter that measures the distance between myself and the other. It’s about the encounter between myself and the other; it’s not about the other.’ I could not describe the ‘other’ in a direct pictorial form but could document my reaction to a very simple verse. Although I have photographed trees, this exercise was more about the way I connected with a perpetually young man who lived his life on a different continent, found joy in nature and witnessed suffering.

The writer, Joyce Kilmer was ‘known for poetry that celebrated the common beauty of the natural world as well as his religious faith’ (Poetry Foundation, nd).  I am very interested in ecology and I love trees, so I felt I could understand his delight in what he saw and frustration with trying to capture that; I could so easily have replaced, ‘photograph’ for ‘poem’. I also felt great sadness that he had died young; I have a son who is the same age now as Joyce Kilmer was when he died, and I can only imagine the great sense of loss and of a life unlived felt by his family.

These images allowed me to explore my relationship with trees.  There is the simple delight of light haloing the crown, the many colours of the bark or catkins swaying in the breeze; but things are not always what they seem.  The Green Man is often peering out from the bark, alien like creatures inhabit the branches or peep out from the soft earth. 

I try to find the elemental spirit of a tree in a photograph but like Kilmer realise that I can only capture their image, their spirit is of their own making.  Although I’m not sure that Kilmer would have approved of the Green Man reference. 

Even in decay trees offer intriguing shapes, their bark is richly textured and coloured. When I’m walking through the woods at first glance you see the trees and then on closer inspection you might see the Green Man

Or a giant, alien caterpillar peering down from the branches

Many of these observations come after the photograph has been taken. The dinosaur feet for example was initially an attempt at photographing the moss and the lichen, and the Green Man came from photographing the texture of the bark.

Choosing a ‘best shot’ was quite difficult; how am I defining my best shot? I decided not to go for technical quality as I felt this exercise was more about emotions. So I choose the photograph that for me, instilled the essence of what we get from nature when we wonder in the woods.

This photograph takes me on more of a journey which is emphasised by the figure in the background. I like the way the diagonal line of the tree leads to them so that although the person is small, size-wise, they act as a ‘point’ and play an important part in the scene. The line of the path that they stand on leads upwards and out of the frame and this allows us to walk it with them into the future and the unknown.

If you would like to read more on my exploration of ‘point’ you can do so HERE.

References

Poetry Foundation (no date) Trees by Joyce Kilmer. Available at: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/12744/trees (Accessed: 2 March 2021).

Poetry Foundation (no date) Joyce Kilmer. Available at: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/joyce-kilmer (Accessed: 2 March 2021).