Place Entry 5

Much of the pond's ice cover has melted, and what's left is sort of weak film. Several faded and slightly decayed corpses of fish have reappeared. There are also some that look fresher, not as dead, and they have not lost as much color. About thirty or so blood orange fishes linger along the edge of the thin ice sheet and still count themselves among the living. So it is that some of the pond's fishes seem quite empowered to survive the winter.

Besides them, there is essentially no wildlife today, not even birds, and that seems best. I've decided to engage in a new quest, to pursue new knowledge regarding this place. I seek botanical literacy.

To help commence this new enterprise, I've acquired a map of the university's arboretum. It's not really an arboretum the way I think of one, that is, a stretch of land with several exotic trees very conscientiously planted for the specific purpose of appearing well groomed and mapped out in a way that suites the academic environment of whatever university or other cultured institution the trees belong to, all underscored by a bit (or a lot?) of in this case well-directed pretension.

Chatham's definition of an arboretum is not like that. Instead, the map I hold is of the entire main campus with the many different trees on campus identified by number and listed below. Sadly, and somewhat perplexingly, most of the trees around the pond are actually not identified.

But imagine this. The closest one is actually Number 1. So I begin there. It's slightly to the left of the chair where I typically perch myself, and for a brief moment have been observing the fish. I crunch over about twenty meters to take a look. I inspect the map. Yes, it must be this one.

First, I look at the tree. It's a little taller than me, maybe about one and a half me's (I'm 5'9 or 5'10ish). The boughs bend and contort erratically, yet somehow demand to be described as stately as well. Their squiggly undulations are both smooth and knobby. Despite my novice understanding of trees, this one certainly seems foreign, and I recall that having glanced down at number one passingly before, I think this one had the word "Japanese" in the title.

Yes, it is the Japanese Laceleaf Maple. Interesting. Can it make maple syrup? The tree seems something like a giant bonsai. It bears no leaves, and besides its overall exoticness, I can hardly think of what else to think about it other than how it got here. How did it get here to Chatham? Does someone have an inclination to cultivate an international garden in the English tradition? Is it here for the benefit of all the undergraduate Japanese exchange students, or to honor them somehow? Is it just as much a small banzai as it is a large bonsai? Sterner will know, hopefully.

I'll post an addendum as soon as I know.