Kindling

For some reason Douglas Fir is named ‘oregon’ in Australia.
The poem which grew out of ideas I had while chopping wood, was shortlisted for the 2015 Lane Cove Literary Award and subsequently published.
For the audio form I’ve renamed it Kindling, recorded myself doing my chores and remixed it with Gurdonark’s xylophone/ marimba sounds. Thanks once again Robert!

oregon

douglas firs were felled to build vancouver.
perfectly suited to climate and soil type,
later replanted as hedges.

you see them in shaughnessy
where the rich employ gardeners
to keep them short-back-and-sides.

irrupting in back gardens thrusting
skyward, an eternal quest
to re-create forest.

back here in australia
lumber becomes timber.
douglas fir rebadged oregon.

structurally sound under cover
but rotting in weather. my deconstructed
balcony repurposed as kindling

i tap with the
tomahawk and it
cleaves

with this satisfying hiss
of peeling off
sunburnt skin

hits the concrete, says milk
and no xylophone or marimba
could produce a note

of such sweet
eutony.


© rob walker, 2015. (from Lane Cove Literary Awards 2015 – An Anthology
Lane Cove Library
Local Studies Monograph No. 25
Lane Cove NSW
ISBN 978-0-949622-40-2