Words for Trees

Dunedin is blessed to have many beautiful trees and the green belt like a wreath around the city hills. Trees are even more significant at this time of year with most of us decorating a special tree for Christmas. But beyond Christmas most of us will have special memories of a particular tree where something happened in it or under it or to it. So trees were the topic this week with the optional challenge of shaping the poem itself.

DECORATION
 
 
                                        *
                                      fold
                                fold  &  fold
                                    &  fold
                          fold  &  fold  &  fold
                   fold  &  fold  &  fold  &  fold
                                fold  &  fold
       fold  &  fold  &  fold  &  fold  &  fold  &  fold
fold  &  fold  &  fold  &  fold  &  fold  &  fold and fold
                     how much do I have to do?
                    So much work; so little result
            The concertina’d squares of blue and red
blue    red    blue    red    blue    red     blue     red    blue
                                clash together
                                - only one foot
                               - now two
                               - nearly three
 
 
Crepe paper crushed by tight little fingers
Impatience rewarded by  l e n g t h e n i n g  b r a i d
Cellotaped ends will stop all that work
un rav e lling
                     where the paper has run out
 
And now the tree!  but no, all must wait for Dad
His carefully placed lights and glass balls
      Not to be Touched by minor hands
No fires here.  He will place the paper length delicately,
balanced, correct, away from HOT bulbs and breakable GLASS

- Kate Jenkins

GOLDEN BELLS

        kowhai
you don’t belong here
yet you   s   d    r
             e     o    o
            n       w     o
             d      n      t
                               s
 
and you  s p r a w l  l a n g u i d l y   across my space
       Spring’s burst of vibrant green growing into long trunks of summer
 
      l
       a
     c
        i
           t
        r
      e
no vertical challenge is accepted;  and
not content to bear just once;
 
                    once                                                      twice
           your golden bells                                   your golden bells
       burnish leafy branchlets                       burnish leafy branchlets
      not enough to joy-fill once                  you have to show off again
and bring midsummer’s golden days      into the cloud and rain of winter

 - Kate Jenkins

PUNGA
 
         still angry
   He brought you down
Your years of growing tall
now               cut
                      down
                      Trunk
                      bisected
                        Annual
                           rings’
                           final
                            year
                               In
                                the
   (water)                 stream
                                 not                 (water)
                                   beside
            (water)              it
                                 Maybe you can
                                     still grow,
                                        devastated
                                          but alive

- Kate Jenkins

MY STAR ADVENTURE

Decorating the Christmas Tree
Was so much fun this year
My sister and her boyfriend
Were finally back home
So I got to decorate the tree with them
It came time to put up the star 

I heard people sometimes lift the youngest up to put the star on 

I accidentally said it out loud 

My sister & her boyfriend suddenly picked me up by the legs 

I was frightened and scared 

Mum gave me the star 

While I was wobbling up in the air I put the star on 

It was a crazy yet fun adventure 

Putting the star on top of the Christmas tree this year

So be careful of what you say out loud!

- Julia Godfrey

THE TREE THAT CAME DOWN WITH A CRASH!
 
There once was a tree as large as a barge
I climbed up as high as the sky to see where to cut from
I examined it closely up and down, side to side
Should I forget or should I abide?
Was it safe to cut this tree down, or should I leave it and hide?
I climbed down with a frown right down to the ground
How would I begin to cut down this huge huge tree?
There was danger with no harness, but I grabbed the chainsaw

And held on with dear life and kept out of strife
I clung hard to the big branches, cutting them down one by one

Crash, crash, crash, one by one they came down with a smash!
This would be hard earned cash for me and my friend as a guide at my side
I think he wanted to hide out of the way and stay that way till the end of the day
Thank God and hooray! I cut it down to the trunk where there was a bit of gunk

But we worked together and each of us knew we had succeeded and neither had flunked!

- Greg Maynard

 

OUR CHRISTMAS TREE - THE TREE OF THE YEAR

Once there was a family 
who gathered together with glee,
why? to celebrate with their tree
the tree would not walk or talk
but if it could it would say:
"gather all your gifts and cards
stockings, wrap them, label them,
cover them with beautiful paper,
glitter and stickers, with names
with tokens of love and kindness
scratch them, place them on me,
around me, upon me, underneath me
Gather all the children and parents
to share the joy of the baby boy
born in a manger to save all people
and the trees.
 
 - Greg Maynard