Tsuga Canadensis. This is neither Shakespeare’s nor Socrates poisonous herb. This Hemlock is a sacred tree on sacred land.

In the forward of  Hemlock-A Forest Giant on the Edge (Foster, 2014) Robert Sullivan asks, “ What do we do with the death of this species? Have we seen this before? And are we prepared to bear witness?” (Sullivan, page ix). It is a grim foreboding that contrasts with the joyous time we had with a living hemlock. This video poem is not a lament for a lost species but an investigation of a moving relationship with a hemlock that is very much alive.

Date of Filming: February 28, 2023

Location: Toronto, Ontario

Credits:

dance by Suzanne Bradley-Siskind and Hemlock

soundscore by Julia Aplin

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Foster, Baiser, B., Plotkin, A. B., D’Amato, A., Ellison, A., Foster, D., Orwig, D., Oswald, W., Thompson, J., & Long, S. (2014). Hemlock : A Forest Giant on the Edge. Yale University Press,. https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300186772

Sullivan, R. (2014). Foreword. In Foster, Hemlock : A Forest Giant on the Edge (pp. ix). Yale University Press.