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Arlie's Maple
Sep. 4th, 2003 03:08 pmI feel way too keyed up. I needed caffeine to get going this morning, up too late reading again, so I'm sort of manic right now.
I feel like writing. There is a tree at the corner of Ohio Avenue and University Boulevard. It looks like a fairly ordinary silver maple with a silvery trunk and leaves that flash green and off white in a breeze. Though if you take the time to cross the street from the Bonnie Brae Ice Cream Parlor you'll soon realize this is something more than just another silver maple. Its trunk totally fills the space between the sidewalk and curb. This is the Arlie Maple planted the city was still young by Arlie Grosman, the kindly madman who talked to trees. He was quite a character. He called himself the Secretary of Jupiter (or possibly Juniper) and apparently believed that trees keep the cities sleeping.
He planted widely and frequently, saying that he taught the trees to sing in harmonies. It is certainly true that he was often seen putting an ear to the trees he planted and could be heard humming something halfway between a lullaby and a chant as he went walking among them. In his blue green suit with the instruments of his vocation hanging out of the pockets he went tramping about Denver and nearby towns for close to 60 years. When he finally died in 1921 he wanted to have his body stuffed inside the hollow bole of an oak, but instead he was cremated by some of his friends in the eccentric community.
So why then is this tree the Arlie Maple out of all the hundreds he planted and cared for? Because it is a survivor, it is well over a century old now and no one knows why that might be. Luck, magic, something planted among its roots? None can say, but it is definitely a fantastic tree and if you heard it singing it would probably have a full rich voice of an elderly aunt singing a strange hymn.
I feel like writing. There is a tree at the corner of Ohio Avenue and University Boulevard. It looks like a fairly ordinary silver maple with a silvery trunk and leaves that flash green and off white in a breeze. Though if you take the time to cross the street from the Bonnie Brae Ice Cream Parlor you'll soon realize this is something more than just another silver maple. Its trunk totally fills the space between the sidewalk and curb. This is the Arlie Maple planted the city was still young by Arlie Grosman, the kindly madman who talked to trees. He was quite a character. He called himself the Secretary of Jupiter (or possibly Juniper) and apparently believed that trees keep the cities sleeping.
He planted widely and frequently, saying that he taught the trees to sing in harmonies. It is certainly true that he was often seen putting an ear to the trees he planted and could be heard humming something halfway between a lullaby and a chant as he went walking among them. In his blue green suit with the instruments of his vocation hanging out of the pockets he went tramping about Denver and nearby towns for close to 60 years. When he finally died in 1921 he wanted to have his body stuffed inside the hollow bole of an oak, but instead he was cremated by some of his friends in the eccentric community.
So why then is this tree the Arlie Maple out of all the hundreds he planted and cared for? Because it is a survivor, it is well over a century old now and no one knows why that might be. Luck, magic, something planted among its roots? None can say, but it is definitely a fantastic tree and if you heard it singing it would probably have a full rich voice of an elderly aunt singing a strange hymn.