Sunday, 18 January 2009

Forest

People fit a forest; not the plain, or the mountains; or the coast. This is why, of course, humanity in its habitation seeks unconsciously to reproduce the arboreal vibe—-nothing too literal-minded, of course; but the light; the proximity; the fragrance; the upper foliage limit of celing, the soft moss carpeting; the sound of traffic outside the window in place of forest streams; and more importantly than all that the immediate somatic scale, the way being amongst the trees in a temperate zone (not the cathedral excesses of tropical zones) positions and situates a human being.

1 comment:

  1. Richard Mabey's entirely wonderful BEECHCOMBINGS has some very interesting passages on the social and cultural history of our ideas of 'the forest'.

    Your apropos of nothing very much

    Simon

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