forest hills pt. 2

we watched these three cross the pond together, and then the coolest thing happened- they got out of the water right in front of where we were sitting, and after a short conversation of one honk each, they took off skimming across the top of the water, slowly rising in a huge arc and gaining altitude until they were far above our heads. we watched them honk off into the distance above the tree tops, and once they were out of sight bebe gave a wave and "honk" of her own. it was more of a "kack," which is her version of "quack."

since the last time we were here we were a little short on time, we never got the chance to see the e.e. cummings tribute tree house just past the pond. i had talked it up a little to bebe and she was disappointed that we never made it over that way. the second time we made sure to get there early in our walk.

"hey! is this that bench you were talking about?"
yep. it's a little more weathered than when your mom and i first came here.

"it came out of the trunk of that tree!?!"
isn't that cool? they took the center of that big tree and made a little bench out of it. when we first started coming for walks here the bench was almost new and the tree trunk didn't have any of that other growth on it. i can't decide if i like it better now or before.

"i bet a lot of fannies have sat here..."
it's set up so that you can sit here and look through the hole they made in the tree. it's also a clue to finding cummings' grave marker, which is sort of hidden since there's no head stone, just a ground stone. if you sit in the middle of the bench and look through the tree, it points you in the right direction.

"whoa! you can climb up into the tree!"
you're standing on a copper plate inscribed with one of his poems.

"i'm pretty sure that to be a poem it has to rhyme."

"and upon close inspection of this copper pressing, i deduce that e.e. cummings was in fact a fraud!"

"no more witnesses your honor, case closed!"
not so fast, perry mason. there's one more feature you haven't discovered, most likely owing to your rather short stature.

ladies and gentlemen of the jury, if you would kindly direct your attention to the small slot carved into the wall of the trunk...

i present to you exhibit A: a journal and a book of POEMS. written by e.e. cummings. over the years there have been a number of different books in that hollow.

this time around someone had put in a journal and a couple of pens along with the book of poems. we checked out some of the things that other people had written, and then bebe decided she wanted to write something as well.

after we had signed the book, we randomly opened the book of poetry, and fittingly enough, this is the poem we got:

pretty great.

we made sure to wrap everything back up

...and to replace it

...back into the hollow.

then we walked past the tree

and up to where his grave marker is. mems and teed have kind of a special relationship with the poetry of e.e. cummings, so we placed a little rock on his stone for them. do you think he's pissed off that his name is all in caps? i think it was his own statement after being lowercase for all of his life.

a little self portrait in the fading afternoon sunlight.

the shadows were getting long, and that meant it was time for us to head home... bye dead folks! see you next time!