05

The Dwelling Place Of The Red Pine Genie

In my bed among the woods, grieving that spring must end,
I lifted up the curtain on a pathway of flowers,

And a flashing bluebird bade me come
To the dwelling-place of the Red Pine Genie.

...What a flame for his golden crucible
Peach-trees magical with buds!
And for holding boyhood in his face,
The rosy-flowing wine of clouds!

— Meng Haoran, translated by Witter Bynner, from The Jade Mountain: A Chinese Anthology, Knopf Publishing

Thank you for calling The Botanarchy Hotline. The Botanarchy Hotline is medicine disguised as a poem, delivered through the portal of your phone. It’s a ham-radio séance between you and the living Earth, for those ready to be bewildered back to life.

The transmission at the end of your telephone line is Episode 5: The Dwelling Place Of The Red Pine Genie. It’s the 8th week of Spring, the pulsing peregrinations of flowering buds are dancings together in the rites of spring, and today we’re gonna make like an ivy-crowned Bacchus warbling his native wood-notes wild and sit down for a visit with the Red Pine Genie.

But first, a little seasonal context.

In Chinese medicine, spring belongs to the Wood Element, which represents the spirit of gigantic forces that re-awaken after their winter rest. Wood pushes through the mossy detritus of winter from dormancy into action, bridging the potential energy of a buried seed with the manifest magic of emerging form. Its energy is one of bursting, birthing, sprouting, and growing, tiny mysteries vegetating hither and thither. It’s flashy! It shows its hand! The Season Of The Red Pine Genie is all about tapping underworld power for skyward growth, reaching upwards and outwards with leafy expanse, adorning the world with a pathway of flowers.

(Cont’d below)

Book Rec: The Jade Mountain: A Chinese Anthology, Witter Bynner