greygirlbeast: (ammonite)
[personal profile] greygirlbeast
I was writing this afternoon, and, for one reason or another, I started thinking about the death of the Lovecraft Tree in Swan Point Cemetery, which made me sad and got me wishing I'd taken the time to photodocument all the graffiti carved into the tree, but also reminded me that I'd never posted the photos that I promised I'd post back on August 20th. So, I am now correcting that oversight. Also, a pertinent quote from "So Runs the World Away," just to get things started.

And for a kiss she shows him the place where Lovecraft is buried, the quiet place she comes when she only wants to be alone, no company but her thoughts and the considerate, sleeping bodies underground. The Phillips family obelisk and then his own little headstone; she takes a plastic cigarette lighter from the front pocket of her jeans and holds the flame close to the ground so that Adrian can read the marker: August 20, 1890 — March 15, 1937, "I am Providence," and she shows him all the offerings that odd pilgrims leave behind. A handful of pencils and one rusty screw, two nickels, a small rubber octopus, and a handwritten letter folded neat and weighted with a rock so the wind won’t blow it away. The letter begins "Dear Howard," but she doesn’t read any farther, nothing there written for her, and then Adrian tries to kiss her again.

"No, wait. You haven’t seen the tree," she says, wriggling free of Adrian Mobley’s skinny arms, dragging him roughly away from the obelisk; two steps, three, and they’re both swallowed by the shadow of an enormous, ancient beech, this tree that must have been old when her great grandfather was a boy. Its sprawling branches are still shaggy with autumnpainted leaves, its roots like the scabby knuckles of some skybound giant, clutching at the earth for fear that he will fall and tumble forever towards the stars.

"Yeah, so it’s a tree," Adrian mumbles, not understanding, not even trying to understand, and now she knows that it was a mistake to bring him here.

"People have carved things," she says and strikes the lighter again, holds the flickering blueorange flame so that Adrian can see all the pocket-knife graffiti worked into the smooth, pale bark of the tree. The unpronounceable names of dark, fictitious gods and entire passages from Lovecraft, razor steel for ink to tattoo these occult wounds and lonely messages to a dead man, and she runs an index finger across a scar in the shape of a tentacle-headed fish.


The photos are behind the cut:



A photo I found online (by Brett Rutherford), showing the tree in winter. View fron the road in front of the Phillips plot, looking east. HPL's small marker is half-obscured behind the Phillips obelisk.

From my second visit to HPL's grave, in July '04.

Photo from 20 August 2006. The tree is gone.

View to southeast, showing crater. HPL's marker is just out of frame, near the Byron Whitford monument.

Close up of the muddy hole where the tree once stood. View to the southeast.

View to the northwest, from the opposite side of the crater. Note damaged obelisk in foreground.

Tree graffiti.

More tree graffiti.


Also, here's a link to the page where I found the topmost photo. Spooky and I took the others. And, you know, I think I'm just too tired to bother cross-posting this thing to Blogger and MySpace, neither of which are ever as cooperative (with me) as LJ, so this is an exclusive.

Date: 2006-09-06 02:53 am (UTC)
sovay: (Lord Peter Wimsey)
From: [personal profile] sovay
I wish I'd seen the tree in life. That black-and-white photo is beautiful.

(You had a blonde phase!)

Date: 2006-09-06 05:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] greygirlbeast.livejournal.com

(You had a blonde phase!)


That I did. I might yet have another.

Date: 2006-09-06 03:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sisyphusiren.livejournal.com
I'm sorry to bother you, but did you ever find out what happened to the tree? I remember reading a post that you were going to send and email so I didn't want to bother them with more...Also, here's a picture that I took in November of '04 (I think) if anyone wants it.
Image
Sorry if I'm bothering you, Tuesday is bar night and I seem to be comment-happy.

Date: 2006-09-06 04:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] greygirlbeast.livejournal.com
Also, here's a picture that I took in November of '04 (I think) if anyone wants it.

Wow. Thank you posting that.

Date: 2006-09-06 04:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] shadowmeursault.livejournal.com
thank you for the photos and for the passage. i, too, wish i could have seen the tree before its untimely demise.

you've been asking about Alabaster lately, but i wanted to comment on SD9 and "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ghoul." the last two sentences are perfection. especially....

"...for stillness has become my own art."

thank you again.

Date: 2006-09-06 04:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] greygirlbeast.livejournal.com

thank you again.


You're very welcome.

Date: 2006-09-06 05:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] iliadawry.livejournal.com
Alabaster came today and it's really beautiful. Thanks to you, Ted Naifeh and SubPress for putting out such a lovely book.

Date: 2006-09-06 07:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] furrylittleprob.livejournal.com
It's arrived in Arizona as well, and I second all that.

Date: 2006-09-06 04:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] activistgirl.livejournal.com
I'll third-I got mine last week but I've been to busy to get on here to say so! It's gaaawgeous! Can't wait to read it this weekend!

Artifact of History gone forever

Date: 2006-09-06 09:22 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gothicinformer.livejournal.com
Your story about you and Spooky failing to find Lovecraft's grave because the tree had disappeared was very moving. I told this story to a few people and their reactions were similar to mine: sad.

Your photos of the actual desolation where that magnificent tree had once lived, is devastating.

I'm very happy that you have documented the incident, before and after images, because history is important.

Cheers.

Date: 2006-09-06 05:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] eldritch00.livejournal.com
Wow, those certainly are heartbreaking snapshots of the tree that was. On the other hand, you look absolutely pretty, no matter the hair color.

Date: 2006-09-07 02:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aylan.livejournal.com
right? the bright side of this is, you're HAWT! lol

Date: 2006-09-07 02:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wtftastic.livejournal.com
Its kind of depressing that they got rid of it... but I'm sure that there was a good reason for it. I mean, they probably would have let it be if it were no issue.

Date: 2006-09-07 02:38 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] captainblack.livejournal.com
damn. thanks for posting these pics. i'm sorry the tree is gone.

i am very fond of big trees. some friends and i even have a group about them:
[livejournal.com profile] big_trees

i have been to the HPL gravestone. i left 23 cents on it as some kinda wack offering.

Date: 2006-09-10 06:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] galaxiezero.livejournal.com
on an unrelated note (mostly), i have that top. i've become completely (and some would say unhealthily) obsessed with all things pirates of the carribean and captain jack sparrow.

fangirly sparrow tattoo to follow, within a matter of weeks.

The Tree That Was

Date: 2007-03-09 12:35 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] omelling.livejournal.com
A sad tale told with beautiful photographs, but here is what I am wondering. Did the tree die because so many people carved into its protective bark? Can we not leave beautiful things as they are without putting our mark all over them?

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Caitlín R. Kiernan

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