Hidden Life of Trees

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Beech_and_oak_trees_at_Appley_Park_-_1473
Beech and oak trees at Appley Park by Naturenet

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A forest
gathering of friends.
Peaceful souls
weave branches,
entwine roots, send messages,
whisper through their leaves.

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Do my cells
have identities?
Can they live
separate
from my large complex being?
How would they survive?

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Who am I?
A cog or the wheel?
Maybe both?
And the trees,
Are they each a soul or part
of a forest's brain?

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Recently I was fascinated by an article called: Trees in  the Forest are Social Beings, featuring  “The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries From a Secret World“, by Peter Wohlleben, a German forest ranger and best-selling author.  These poems are reflections inspired by the article.

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In response to Jane Dougherty Poetry Challenge #17:  Shadorma. The theme this week is ‘Trees’ and the form is Shadorma: six lines per stanza with syllable count: 3-5-3-3-7-5.

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Published by Janice

My name is Janice.  I started blogging as Ontheland when I moved from Toronto to a rural area near Kingston, Ontario in Canada.  Over time I have found myself writing poetry, mostly in Japanese forms, such as haiku and haibun.  One of my deepest interests is the natural world: the joy of it and how we can look after it better.

21 thoughts on “Hidden Life of Trees”

      3. Yes, but I think it is only sonething you can feel or imagine to be and use that as the way you view the world and the way you live it. Who knows if that’s really the way things are? When you say you hope it’s come across as being about the coexistence of individual and collective soul, I think it can have be read that way or that that it’s one. I’ll have to re-read!

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      5. Excuse the typos in the last response!!! Replying from phone is haphazard! Ok, I re-read, and for me it is speaking about a collective consciousness that the cells, the trees, the forest are all a part of. I’m not following on how individual and collective soul co-existing is a lack of duality.

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      6. I’d like to say I was there when I wrote it but my thinking has been evolving since I hit the Publish button–simmering with time and interacting with the comments, particularly yours. My meaning on the duality thing: if duality is ‘either or’ then lack of duality would embrace both realities as in the Tao symbol ..that’s what I was thinking…..

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      7. Ha- I can totally relate- I sometimes find there is ‘unintended’ depth in what I write- I think that is what inspiration is- it comes from a place that we are not aware of in our conscious mind. A, okay, I didn’t realise that was what duality meant- makes sense now! I always thought it referred to two outcomes, states etc…Ha, didn’t even know it was called “Tao symbol” either- so much I don’t know…

        I am trying to finalise my IYP post now- it has been quite a fun post to put together! Looking forward to reading yours 🙂

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      8. I’m working on that IYP POST too–not as far along as you from the sounds of it. ..on poems I’ve heard it said that their meaning is an interaction of author’s words and reader..it is what you take from it. I hope I haven’t misled you on the duality thing–not overly confident on it myself and probably philosophers have written books or essays on it ..But my take of the Tao symbol is that it shows ying and yang as combined as a whole and within each other. My definition of duality is when you think something must be right or wrong–escaping duality one can see rightness and wrongness in the same issue. On to the beans!

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      9. No, you didn’t mislead me- I didn’t really kniw the meaning and guessed. Yes, I agree- re: what the reader takes from it. That’s what I love about the discussions in the comments! on to beans 😊

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    1. Thank you Melinda. Yes I would hope that an understanding of their intelligence and inter connectedness could promote more care…I guess it’s about a greater respect and appreciation of the living web that we are a part of.

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  5. Pingback: Poetry challenge Tree Shadorma: the entries – Jane Dougherty Writes

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