songs of experience

Uwharrie gives out great awards, by the way. Above is a photo of one of tree platters from Seagrove potter, Michael Mahan, that is similar to the ones he was commissioned to make for the top prizes at Uwharrie (ours were square platters). Notice the trees etched, (carved? imprinted? What’s the proper term for this?) on the outside. I like what Mahan had to say about trees on his website:

“My latest work involves trees. I grew up drawing them. I’ve always loved trees, especially bare trees. Leafless, old trees. There was something mystical about a lone tree standing in a field of grass. I remember a tree in the Florida Keys, rising out of shallow water in some salty lagoon. It had died long ago, but its skeleton remained standing. The ancient Celts loved trees. They saw them as a source of wisdom and hope, an enduring link between the upper and lower worlds, a reminder of the eternal cycle of seasons.”

When I start getting all sentimental about trees, I am reminded of the only Dr. Seuss book I can stand to read aloud (that uber-rhyming drives me nuts): The Lorax. Remember, “I am the Lorax; I speak for the trees!”?

In no time at all, I had built a small shop.
Then I chopped down a Truffula Tree with one chop.
And with great skillful skill and with great speedy speed,
I took the soft tuft. And I knitted a Thneed!

The instant I´d finished, I heard a ga-Zump!
I looked.
I saw something pop out of the stump
of the tree I´d chopped down. It was sort of a man.
Describe him?…That´s hard. I don’t know if I can.

He was shortish. And oldish.
And brownish. And mossy.
And he spoke with a voice
that was sharpish and bossy.

Mister! he said with a sawdusty sneeze,
I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.

I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.
And I’m asking you, sir, at the top of my lungs–
he was very upset as he shouted and puffed–
What’s that THING you’ve made out of my Truffula tuft?

Look, Lorax, I said. There’s no cause for alarm.
I chopped just one tree. I am doing no harm.
I’m being quite useful. This thing is a Thneed.
A Thneed´s a Fine-Something-That-All-People-Need!
It’s a shirt. It´s a sock. It´s a glove. It´s a hat.
But it has other uses. Yes, far beyond that.
You can use it for carpets. For pillows! For sheets!
Or curtains! Or covers for bicycle seats!
The Lorax said,
Sir! You are crazy with greed.
There is no one on earth
who would buy that fool Thneed!

But the very next minute I proved he was wrong.
For, just at that minute, a chap came along,
and he thought that the Thneed I had knitted was great.
He happily bought it for three ninety-eight.
I laughed at the Lorax, You poor stupid guy!
You never can tell what some people will buy.

I repeat, cried the Lorax,
I speak for the trees!