Concentration Camps for Trees
by Zia ~ February 27th, 2005. Filed under: House.“Psst, have you seen Ernie?” one pinus contorta whispers to another.
The second pinus contorta rustles his needles and looks around. “No, where’d he go?”
“Well …. I heard he got …. bonsaid.
A sharp intake of breath. All the trees still. Even the wind hushes. The horror, the sheer unmitigated horror.
Ernie got bonsaid.
Steve wants to take a bonsai class. There’s a place in the neighborhood that sells bonsai and has in-depth workshops on how to create bonsai. But I have to be honest: they make me uncomfortable. It’s like reading about grown men getting castrated, healthy people being sent to the gas chamber, people whose limbs are broken so they never grow back straight. Stunted and twisted on purpose. They’re so unnatural, dwarfed miniature replicas of themselves, like women who get plastic surgery to look like Barbie. They give me the creeps.
But I seem to be the minority here. In fact, the Puget Sound area even has a stolen bonsai registry. Their copy is great. “Bonsai Theft is not a popular subject, and is not widely discussed, but like many other societal problems is a reality.” But here, go ahead and read for yourself.