Box Elder (Virtue Complete)

You're out of order!
At least, any order I can see
You don't even know why you do the things you do, but you do them!
Ugly, even hideous in eyes that fail to see beyond near sight

Slender branch no good for burning
growth not quick enough returning
winding trunk too bent for planing,
and a grain unfit for staining
Not worth chopping, stopping interest
in your wisdom buried deep
asleep

Bend in a breeze you don't need to understand and
if you break, it's ok.
Bending, breaking, who decided they were different anyway?
You never know; you feel
Everything imaginary, everything is real

You sprang from a great clod
You sprang, an unhewn log
You sprang from yourself!

The laws that you obey change with the wind
As soon as you begin the old rules blow away
but you don't mind

Action is overrated; supple reaction makes for taller growth
Growing toward a fall
Falling to the sky

When they think they know what's good
they will cut you down to make room for square plans
Plans that stand til wind blows
Plans based on good that is not bad
With an end that is not beginning
Because they know when they go they do not return
When they are gone for good you will begin
from end anew

Bend in a breeze you don't need to understand and
when you break, it's ok.
Bending, breaking, who decided they were different anyway?
You never know; you feel
Everything imaginary, everything is real

From the In Not-Even-Anything Land CD Tray

` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `



This is one of my favorite creations from the summer of 2007. The titular box elder is pictured above--it's located on my aunt and uncle's farm in Walla Walla, among my favorite (if not my very favorite) places to be. It's a curious tree--not particularly pretty, symmetrical or shapely. It tends to blow over, break and continue growing in odd directions. It's also a great place to sit in the shade on a hot Walla Walla day. The tree reminded me of a couple stories from the Chuang Tzu about a tree that grows to a monstrous size because it isn't ideal for any of the applications for which humans cut trees down. So, by being useless, the tree lives a happy and long life.

The song is meant to be a mess with no apparent structure (poetically or musically), just like the tree. I'm pretty happy with the words I've chosen insofar as they evoke a number of meanings (for me anyway) and I've been a little unhappy with my tendency to explain too much on this blog, so I'll just say generally that we humans seem to try to understand structure and usefulness from a fairly limited perspective--and often with catastrophic results--when in reality what's "good" (more like what's efficacious) is less fixed and more situational. Perhaps an alternative to attempting to understand and control unfathomable and uncontrollable situations and events (like, why are we here, man?) a bit more supple and reactive attitude might result in a deeper intuitive understanding of what's going on. Less wordily: Go with the flow, and nothing can break you. Or maybe it will break you, but maybe being broken isn't a problem from a wider perspective.

In seeming validation of this trash heap of a song, the rough winter of '07 and '08 kicked this tree's ass pretty bad--it lost some major limbs and looks much less full, and perhaps a bit uglier. It's still growing strong, though. I'm about halfway through putting this song to music which mimics the lyric's formlessness. It probably won't be easy listening, but then again I'll probably have a smile on my face when I sing it.