The Trees & Their Names

I’ve been given a list, the names of the trees.
The task is to go into the forest
and match the names with trees.

I start with an easy one: English Oak, Quercus robur,
I pick a tree which looks to be about 500 years old.
It is a gathering place for tiny wasps, earwigs, woodlice,
somewhere to cower under an old twisted root.
If I’m really quiet I can hear it grumble and groan.

Next is Wild Cherry, Prunus avium, also called Mazzard or Gean.
Under the names someone with pretty handwriting has noted –
‘A favourite of blackbirds and starlings.’
I think it is the blackbirds which call it Mazzard
and the starlings which call it Gean.

After 15 minutes I can find no tree which matches
any of the Cherry’s names. I’ve been trying my best
to see what the people who wrote these names must have seen.
I must try harder. I will eat my packed lunch
in a patch of sunlight and think clearly.

By the time I make it to the bottom of the list,
Black Poplar, Populus nigra, the Devil’s Fingers,
I am very tired. When I close my eyes I see the Poplar.
It grows and grows to reach a tremendous height
and pluck aeroplanes out of the sky. I must go home.

Tomorrow I’m to be given a new list, the people and their jobs.
The task is to go into the town
and match the people with jobs.

Adam Warne has been published online, in The Rialto and was one of the poets in 28sonnetslater.blogspot.co.uk. He currently lives in Suffolk where he’s paid to push trollies around a supermarket carpark.