13 July 2025 – I stand there on the sidewalk, having myself a Joyce Kilmer moment.
If you now find yourself chanting “I think that I shall never see / A poem lovely as a tree,” then you may be of my generation — someone who also grew up somewhere in North America and learned that poem in elementary school.
The 1913 language may now strike us as a bit over-heated. We’re more likely to respond to the approach taken by UBC Professor of Forest Ecology, Dr. Suzanne Simard. Her 2021 seminal work, Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest (now published in 21 languages), has propelled us right to the frontier of work being done in the field of plant communication and intelligence.
Kilmer or Simard, it’s about respect for trees, each pursuing that respect with their own language and skills.
My respect today is visual — for the sheer beauty & majesty of this tree. The textures of the bark, the play of colours.
Wonderful details, up close.
Tiny golden leaves, caught in bark crevasses at the base of the trunk…
a sprig of new leaves, erupting mid-trunk…
spider webs! …
and the bark itself, needing no adornment.
Yet, there is one final adornment.
Of nature, but added by human hands.
WALKING WOMAN 
J Walters
/ 13 July 2025Count me as one who learned that poem although I must admit I did not know the poet’s name. Someone close to me who is a horticulturist educated me about trees decades ago, their stories and languages are fascinating. (I have been waiting forever for a library audiobook of The Hidden Life of Trees and perhaps I will not get it before fires consume the forests. I could not breathe outside today for smoke)
Lynette d'Arty-Cross
/ 13 July 2025I have heard of the poem but never learned it in school. It’s important to recognise the beauty of the ordinary nature around us; to not take it for granted. Cheers.
Mary C
/ 16 July 2025Now I have to find that poem…. as for trees – they are all fantastic! Also, reminds me now of pinhole cameras and trying to communicate with trees (however silly that sounds)
Gregory
/ 16 July 2025Nice bio penny, I will like to walk in you and hope to enjoy your company 😊
icelandpenny
/ 18 July 2025Thank you Gregory! I’ll enjoy your company.
Gregory
/ 21 July 2025Am pretty sure you will how are you doing today penny ?
Alex Schumacher
/ 18 July 2025What a poem in pictures. Thanks for being so keenly observant.
icelandpenny
/ 18 July 2025And thank you! Your own eye is keenly observant.