Gert has for a long time had a plan to write a book called Men Who Live In Cupboards. So she was surprised to come across something that could be a companion piece, called Women In Trees (2016) followed recently by More Women In Trees.
The German photographer Jochen Raiß discovered, through old photos he found at flea markets and in junk shops, that primly dressed women all over Germany, from the twenties to the fifties, posed in trees during Sunday strolls.
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/03/22/women-in-trees/
Yes, these are photos of women in trees. Both books are best-sellers. Why?
Is Men Who Live In Cupboards destined for best-seller status?
It’s a bit spooky that in a past life Gert wrote a poem called A Lifetime In A Tree:
Under my knees the bark rasps,
friendly. I never need to go back.
With a teapot and a toaster
I could stay in this tree for a good long life
for company, a quiet chortle of chooks
under their pointed roof of tin…
You would have dozens of women begging to share your space, of course., chooks, and not-yet-chooks.
which would spoil the fun
Of course. But so tempting to the others.
http://www.rizzoliusa.com/book.php?isbn=9780789329127
“candid snapshots of women enjoying unconventional activities” – the mind boggles. Have you got this one, Guy?
Lovely post, Gert and such an evocative poem, what with the images and alliteration. And that unexpected juxtaposition — “Under my knees the bark rasps, | friendly” — not what I’d have put together but yet so familiar and therefore so apt.
Thanks Chris. We spent a lot of time in the peppercorn trees as kids.
Revisits many adventures inspired by Enid Blyton.
I don’t think one would want anyone to intrude in that place!
That tree was only a means to an end, wasn’t it?
I have a picture of myself in a tree when I was about 13 years old. We had an old apple orchard and those trees are wonderful to climb.
Leslie
Now we need to see that picture on your site, Leslie. With music.
in your dreams……chuckle..
An apple tree and a flute would go very well together…
Come to think of it you’re right…..