Shattered tree: the result of an Irish ménage à trois? All passion spent, indeed. Can you see the face in the bottom corner? Is that a cry of ecstasy or are those wooden lips screaming a safe word? Frankly I’m no voyeur so I won’t linger, just click the shutter and shuffle off like a clumsy and embarrassed spy.
Actually, this headless trunk flanks the riverbank opposite MIT, a mere five minutes meandering stroll from my house. But I had never really noticed it when leafy and living, its arboreal achievements remaining a mystery to me no matter how many times I passed it by. Or perhaps I did, and no longer recognise its devastated form.
It has a strange, tragic beauty, doesn't it? It'd make a nice jigsaw puzzle.
Posted by: Andraste | October 12, 2005 at 09:15
Are you seriously comparing my heartbreakingly beautiful photographic artwork to "View of Delft" in a Thousand Pieces Suitable for Ages 7 and Up???????
Posted by: stephenesque | October 12, 2005 at 09:21
Yggdrasil, a word that easily trips over one's tongue especially after said tongue has lolly-gagged over a pint or two. As per Wikipedia's take on that word, a little blurb caught my eye:
"The Germanic custom of hanging sacrificial victims from trees was probably in reference to this myth (see also Human sacrifice, Tyr). In 1950, the preserved corpse of the so-called "Tollund Man" was found in a peat bog in Jutland. The excellent level of preservation made it possible to deduce that he had been ritually hanged and respectfully consigned to the bog, not more than a hundred yards from where a ritually hanged woman had been found some decades previously."
So, whether it was an Irish threesome or some overweight Scandanavian guy named Olaf who crushed that world of a tree is immaterial. Luckily for you, no Germanic types were hanging about that tree doing unprintable things. That would not have been pleasant at all, walking around and getting a hanging dead body in the kisser.
Posted by: DarkoV | October 12, 2005 at 09:25
The is an excellent book called "The Bog People" by some Danish doctor. Lists the many and varied number of human remains discovered in the peat bogs of Jutland. Very interesting.
Posted by: stephenesque | October 12, 2005 at 09:30
Not a 7 and up puzzle, surely. I'm talking one of those megamillion piece, grown-up, test-your-patience puzzles here.
Posted by: Andraste | October 12, 2005 at 10:56
Re. "The Bog People", did you, by chance, write the accolades on the back?
Posted by: DarkoV | October 12, 2005 at 11:08
No but I would glady add a commendation. Absorbing book.
Posted by: stephenesque | October 12, 2005 at 13:37
Begging your pardon, but wasn't that called "The Blog People"? I quote the back cover: "A strange tale of a hitherto-undiscovered world of dark mystery, savagery, and swift and deadly rites."
As for trees -- seen one, seen 'em all.
Posted by: Bleak Mouse | October 12, 2005 at 15:26
I agree with Bleak. Trees are for the birds.
Posted by: Mortimer Shy | October 12, 2005 at 15:51
I, brittle flower, am gladdened that my deepest, most profound, and highly sensitive thoughts provide an arena for the cheap mummery of ye comment hooligans who would treat my very soul like a common fairground or boozy dancehall for the exhibition of thy mocking wit.
Posted by: stephenesque | October 12, 2005 at 16:43
...I DID say it has tragic beauty.
Posted by: Andraste | October 13, 2005 at 10:08
As a weedkiller, I occasionally mis-fire and inadvertently kill the blooming flower I was trying to protect. Must work on my aim. Sorry!
Posted by: DarkoV | October 13, 2005 at 10:41
We hooligans often get "hopped up" on anabolic steroids and go about pounding the crap out of sensitive types.
The next morning we feel bad and wear lace cuffs and write lyric poetry ourselves. Honest.
Posted by: Bleak Mouse | October 13, 2005 at 10:49