My first memory of climbing this wonderful 150 year old Weeping Willow was at the tender age of seven years old one sunny afternoon while picnicking at the nearby fairy glen in Sefton Park.
The magic tree has long been a legend where I grew up in the area of Liverpool eight. A pilgrimage for children and disgruntled teenager alike, she welcomes all in her loving boughs with acceptance and fortitude.
The tree has grown in a way that encourages climbing with a spiders web of branches and woody thrones at the top of the tree. Honestly, it is almost like the spirit of this tree has grown the most comfy seats to encourage humans to rest among its leafy canopy.
You can never be sure who you'll meet climbing the magic tree. One balmy sunny afternoon when I was ten years old we met four nineteen year old punks drinking cider 😆 They begrudgingly accepted us until our incessant questions pissed them off and we were glared at until we left.
I remember other times encountering local hippies drumming, Rastas with portable stereos perfuming the air with spliff smoke and sometimes other kids who would inspire massive ten person games of hide & seek.
As time passed I turned into one of those disgruntled teenagers and used to often sit in the magic tree with friends smoking it up with a beer and a bag of herbal produce.
Throughout my life I have returned to the magic tree to climb and sit in meditation. Trees hold a special place in my personal spiritual practice. Their spirit breathes the most settling presence into the environment, and if we listen they can teach us how to live in acceptance.
If you look at trees beyond the microscope of science, in a much broader way they show us a perfect example of living in harmony with the world while attaining all that you need.
Trees have been here long before us, and if we don't completely destroy this planet that we call home together, they'll be here long after we've gone. They sit in harmony with everything around them in a way that humans find difficult.
Please do check out the video poem I made below as it speaks to all this so much better than I can in simple prose.
The poem is my email/letter to the magic tree.
All pictures were taken in and around the magic tree, the animation was a labor of love (it took me two days to get it right) using GIMP & AdobePro.
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Stunning. I'd comment on the poem itself as there are so many beautiful lines, but I can't hold it in my head without reading it as well, haha! Is that deep dream animator that you're using to bring the tree to life? So many gorgeous lines.
Isn't it funny how a tree like that can be used irreverently (cider swilling, smoking, climbing) and reverently (a spiritual practice, a deep contemplation). Reading all these treemails makes me realise even more how many different aspects of our lives trees fulfil. Just beautiful, Rowan - thanks for entering.
And your name, a tree as well.
Hi Riverflows 👋
Yeah, that struck me too. And I see it as part of that spirit of acceptance that trees have. They don't judge and the magic tree personifies this spirit in such a visual and physical way with the way it has grown to create seats at its crown. It is almost as if it's inviting people to climb and sit with it, in whatever place/time/state that they happen to be in at the time.
I think I might have mentioned it before, the reason I don't put a written version of my poems up when I make these poetry videos is that it's like a loophole to be able to submit them to mainstream journals/anthologies. Once you self publish in written form, even with a copywrite mark, it destroys any chance for it to be published elsewhere with the strict 1st publishing rights they demand.
Lol, anyway... I particularly wanted to keep this one available for any future anthology about Liverpool in general or about Sefton Park.
I'm glad you enjoyed the poem Riverflows 🙂
P.s. the trippy art was made using deep dream generator, but that doesn't have an animation function. I had to animate them myself using GIMP photo editing suit by blending three or four different images through their animation tools then make gifs of them (3 animations in total). Then I used adobe pro video editor to cut them up, add some effects at that stage, put the audio (music and reading) in and add the text.
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Hurricane Irma knocked down many of my favorite oaks that shaded an area where we have music festivals - one behind the stage was particularly gorgeous when lit from beneath, and was an excellent spot for a cigarette break when cutting the grass. The bright side is I got paid to remove or reduce them. The not so bright side is we never planted anything to replace them. Your poem was sweet.
Sad to hear that the hurricane knocked down some of your favorite trees. Maybe you could try some guerilla tree planting 😉🌳
I'm glad you enjoyed the poem operahoser 🙂
Indeed what a beautiful old tree, has something magic in it...
Thanks behiver
She's a magical old tree. I'm glad you enjoyed the poetry post 🙂
Very cool article and photos, thanks for sharing. 🤗
Thanks trincowski
Glad you enjoyed the poetry post 🙂