Bottle Tree Blanket

This is a pear tree. The bottles are a Southern myth. By way of Africa, I've been told. I don't know for sure. Bottle trees were all over when I was growing up. The idea is that greedy ghosts and malevolent spirits are attracted to shiny things. Seeing the bottles on the bottle tree, they will investigate. They will go inside the bottles for an even closer look. Once inside, they can't get out! The spirits stay there. They do not die. They are not annihilated. But they are contained. This is the magic of the bottle tree. It's good to have one in your front yard, if protection from malevolent forces is a concern.

Being from the South has been a strange and mystic modern journey. I know, I know: Compared to what? Having never been from anywhere else, I can't speak of a control group, can I? But I know that the South is disappearing slowly. And one day it simply won't exist. I'm toying around, though, with the idea that that's okay. Maybe it's God's plan. Who am I?

I'm an insider and an outsider. I'm an insider because I was born in rural-industrial middle Georgia and lived the first 18 years of my life under that bottle tree blanket. I'm an outsider because I got exposed to mass media at an early age and loved it. Also, I'm an outsider because I went off to college and said a fond farewell to the life my hometown had in store for me. So when I talk about the South, it's not entirely from the perspective of a cloistered, cut-off insider. It's also not entirely from the perspective of someone who doesn't have cicadas, cutworms, and wisteria juice in their blood. It's important for an insider-outsider to know their audience, and to never assume. My feelings about the South - now those are always insider feelings.

I didn't choose to be from the South. Obviously. It chose me. Or rather no choice was involved. Because is there ever? But it has been important for me to retain and nurture my Southern identity. Did you know that there is a war going on against real identities? There is. And - barring metaphysics from the discussion - what could be more authentic than the identity you were born into? And I don't know - maybe people from the Midwest and Northeast feel the same way. I hope so.

Because in my scattered mind, it's important to be from somewhere. Life, after call can get pretty mean. And like I said, there's a war on. Sometimes even truth and beauty can turn hollow and empty. You gotta have an antidote. And even friends and family can't be your antidote. You gotta touch the touchstone. To rub the true rosary. To remember who you are, and what's in your blood. Being from somewhere can give you a place to stand in, so you can look around and know that it is Good.