Tuesday 28 February 2017

on the various usefulnesses of trees




Come, carpenter, and make for me
A fine thing from an English tree;
A coffin from the wych elm, or
A rolling pin from sycamore,
Or blocks and stamps for butter patting;
Lime for blocks for felted hatting.

From conker trees, whose wood is white
A milk pail would be thought just right;
But from the ash (so profligate
its uses are) I’ve time to state
Just Morris Travellers, aeroplanes,
Policemen’s truncheons, hop field frames,
Hockey sticks and lifeboat oars,
And fork handles (not candles four).

The willow gives us cricket bats
And elevates the bearskin hat;
Alder for your piles and clogs;
Walnut branch for beating dogs.
Don’t dance around the maple tree
but steal its syrup stealthily.

And if this list’s too much for you
get MDF from B&Q

this is a found poem, in the sense that I found it when I was tidying up the not-yet-finished ones on my computer. I'd completely forgotten it. So here it is. I got the uses of the trees from my SR Badmin Puffin book of trees, which id put a picture of too. If I could find it.

Kev at work

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