Learning the trees

[Ruth]

This just happens to be one of my favorite poems. The junction of language and nature.

Learning the Trees
BY HOWARD NEMEROV

Before you can learn the trees, you have to learn
The language of the trees. That’s done indoors,
Out of a book, which now you think of it
Is one of the transformations of a tree.

The words themselves are a delight to learn,
You might be in a foreign land of terms
Like samara, capsule, drupe, legume and pome,
Where bark is papery, plated, warty or smooth.

But best of all are the words that shape the leaves—
Orbicular, cordate, cleft and reniform—
And their venation—palmate and parallel—
And tips—acute, truncate, auriculate.

Sufficiently provided, you may now
Go forth to the forests and the shady streets
To see how the chaos of experience
Answers to catalogue and category.

Confusedly. The leaves of a single tree
May differ among themselves more than they do
From other species, so you have to find,
All blandly says the book, “an average leaf.”

Example, the catalpa in the book
Sprays out its leaves in whorls of three
Around the stem; the one in front of you
But rarely does, or somewhat, or almost;

Maybe it’s not catalpa? Dreadful doubt.
It may be weeks before you see an elm
Fanlike in form, a spruce that pyramids,
A sweetgum spiring up in steeple shape.

Still, pedetemtim as Lucretius says,
Little by little, you do start to learn;
And learn as well, maybe, what language does
And how it does it, cutting across the world

Not always at the joints, competing with
Experience while cooperating with
Experience, and keeping an obstinate
Intransigence, uncanny, of its own.

Think finally about the secret will
Pretending obedience to Nature, but
Invidiously distinguishing everywhere,
Dividing up the world to conquer it,

And think also how funny knowledge is:
You may succeed in learning many trees
And calling off their names as you go by,
But their comprehensive silence stays the same.

[Lynn]

I like this one, Ruth. The contrast between learning terminology from a book and applying it to real trees reminded me of the days when I used to teach woody plant identification to horticulture majors. Field trips were always interesting, especially when they found something I couldn't identify!

[Gina]

After reading The Overstory and Lab Girl, this poem is very meaningful. Those books taught me reverence for trees and leaves, underground root and barks.

[Lyn]

I like it too. My background is science, but I realized early on that much of what scientists try to do with nature is divide it up into categories and make up names for all the details (though the names, like in the poem, are often enjoyable to ponder)..., while nature remains a quiet and much larger magnificent wonder.

[Scout]

Well said, Lyn.