Today In History (December 6 1886) Joyce Kilmer

[AustrianPainter]

TODAY IN HISTORY

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1886: Joyce Kilmer, who would become perhaps the last of the Romantic poets, is born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He would be killed at the age of 31 in France during the fratricidal slaughter of World War 1.

[Will Williams]

I remember having to recite Kilmer's poem in the fourth Grade, and being a tree lover, enjoyed visiting the National Forest that is not too far from NA's National Office.

Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest



I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree…

The Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest near Robbinsville preserves one of the largest stands of old-growth trees in the eastern United States. Part of the Nantahala National Forest, the 3,800-acre Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest is a paradise for walkers, with trails that lead beneath giant trees, some more than 300 years old.

This tract escaped the lumbering of the 1920s that resulted in the clear-cutting of surrounding areas. Today the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest is home to more than 100 species of trees, including virgin stands of sycamore, basswood, oak and yellow-poplar. The largest tulip poplars are more than 20 feet in circumference and over 100 feet tall. Beneath these giants, the forest floor is carpeted with wildflowers and ferns.

An easy, two-mile trail winds through the Forest, forming a figure-eight. At the center is a plaque commemorating the poet Joyce Kilmer, for whom the forest is named. Kilmer was a World War I hero and author of the famous poem, “Trees.” The Forest was dedicated to him in 1935 by the US Forest Service.

Location
From Robbinsville, take NC 143 West. After about 12 miles, turn right on Joyce Kilmer Road (SR1134). Go two miles and turn left at the signs for the Forest. https://www.blueridgeheritage.com/desti ... al-forest/

BTW, Mr. Kilmer aside, Robbinsville, in Graham County, NC, was, not that long ago, a Sundown Town: https://www.distractify.com/p/current-sundown-towns



"Trees" is a Cosmotheist poem, whether Mr. Joyce realized it or not:
https://unreadpoetssociety.com/2022/12/ ... -analysis/